585 
Birds of Southern Cameroon. 
nest itself, wliile in nests of the Black-and-Yellow Weaver 
the tube extends downwards a little below the bottom of 
the nest. Four eggs (Nos. 176-9) were taken from two 
nests pulled down, with many others, from a colony in two 
palm-trees, which I am sure, from having watched it for 
several days, contained only birds of the black species. 
One pair measure 25 x 16 mm.; the other pair 23 x 16 and 
22 X 15*5 mm. respectively. 
[The eggs are of a rather pointed oval form, devoid of 
gloss, and of a uniform deep bluish green.—W. It. O.-G.] 
Among the different types of eggs of Ploceus cucullatus 
(see : c Ibis/ 1909, p. 44) none resembles the eggs above 
describeJ. Hence in a mixed colony of the two species 
there are about four very distinct types of eggs, a circum¬ 
stance that must aid each hen-bird in finding her own, to 
the benefit of the race. 
Ploceus maxwelli. 
Melanopteryx maxwelli Alexander, Ibis, 1903, p. 355. 
See note under Melanopteryx nigerrimus Bates., Ibis, 
1909, p. 47. 
Many additional specimens have now been obtained at 
Bitye, like those to which attention was called in my note in 
f The Ibis 9 (/. c. supra), and I have no longer any doubt 
about their identity with Alexander's M. maxwelli. 
There is a remarkable variation in the colour of the 
immature birds that I cannot account for. Some have the 
plumage of the under parts entirely grey, while others have 
these parts strongly tinged with yellowish-olive, and in some 
the yellowish colour appears also on the feathers of the nape 
and the lores. Alexander noted this difference in his 
specimens, and attributed it to sex, describing the bird with 
the yellowish-olive in its plumage as the immature male, 
and the entirely grey one as the immature female. My 
specimens do not bear this out, as the amount of the 
yellowish tinge in different specimens varies in all degrees, 
and two having a large amount of this colour were females. 
On finding that the difference was not due to sex, I 
