Birds of Southern Cameroon. 533 
Still more remarkable are the birds with the middle 
rectrices black. No. 4013 has these perfectly black ; one 
(No. 4512) has some white near the shaft, as in Reichenow’s 
T. melanura; but another bird (No. 4481) has the middle 
tail-feathers black and white, with the white predominating. 
No. 4013 has the lateral rectrices black ; other specimens have 
them chestnut and black mixed. It is impossible to separate 
my birds into different species. Besides, they seem all to live 
together in the bikotok , while the other two species of the 
genus in my district are birds of the forest. 
There can be no question of hybrids among these variously 
coloured birds, for no two species have yet been found which 
could produce such hybrids. We seem to have to deal with 
a wild species varying as remarkably in coloration as do 
many domestic species. 
Birds of this species have the bill and feet blue, the bill 
having a black tip ; the inside of the mouth is greenish 
yellow, brightest in adults. 
The long middle rectrices of the male become extremely 
worn. When they are shed, they are soon replaced by a new 
pair, so that adult males are seldom seen without them. 
These birds are nearly always breeding, and nests and eggs 
have now been found and recorded in every month of the year 
except one, and in that month birds in breeding condition 
have been shot. The nests are often in exposed places and 
many eggs and young are probably destroyed. The male 
bird, in spite of his conspicuous plumage, takes a share in 
the work of incubation. Once I saw a female fly off a nest 
at my approach, and on returning about fifteen minutes after 
1 discovered the male on the nest. Various observations 
lead me to think that the male sits during the hours of broad 
daylight, and the female at evening, night, and morning ; 
but that the parent not on duty is generally close at hand to 
take the place of its mate, if frightened off. 
Of many eggs now obtained, none vary much from those 
already described, though the limits of size given before will 
have to be extended, the extremes in length being 20 and 
17 mm., and in width 15 and 12*5 mm. 
SER. IX.—VOL. v. 2 o 
