599 
Birds of Southern Cameroon . 
Four eggs (Nos. 188 a, 189 a, 241, and 316) vary in length 
from 22 to 24 mm. and in width from 16 to 17 mm. 
[They differ somewhat from the green-grounded eggs 
already described (f Ibis/ 1909, p. 56) in having the ground 
of a pale stone-colour, but the markings are much the 
same.—W. R. O.-G.] 
Phyllostrophus simplex. [Nkes.] (Plate XI. figs. 12- 
14, eggs.) 
Bates, Ibis, 1909, p. 57. 
Bleda simplex Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 632 ; 1907, p. 459 ; 
Bates, Ibis, 1905, p. 96. 
At least a score of nests of this Nkes have now been found, 
and identified by the birds caught or killed in them. They 
are always placed on low bushes near the ground, in hikotok 
or gardens, a favourite breeding-site being the triple or 
quadruple fork of a cassava plant, or the similar fork 
of the big weed Triumfetta. They are shallow cups, 
rather rudely built, and very similar to other nests of 
Pycnonotidse ; but they have one invariable mark of dis¬ 
tinction, for among the materials of the base or outside 
part a few dry tendrils of some wild or cultivated vine 
of the Gourd or Vine families are always to be found. 
The number of eggs in a clutch is invariably two. Most 
of the nests were found in the months of March, August, 
and September. 
Nestlings have the inside of the mouth flesh-red, and the 
swollen margin of the gape pale yellow. 
Seventeen eggs have been measured : two from two nests 
measure 26 X 18 mm.; these were the largest, though two 
others, from different nests, were wider—25 x 18*5 mm. ; 
the smallest one, afterwards broken, measured 22 X 16 mm.; 
the two smallest that were saved, both from one nest, 
measure 22 5 x 17 mm. 
[A large number of eggs vary considerably in shape from 
a regular oval to a rather long oval. They are distinctly 
glossy. The ground-colour varies from w T hite to pale stone- 
colour, and the Bunting-like markings consist of long 
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