609 
Birds of Southern Cameroon. 
nest, and might be likened to a rope three feet long with 
an enlargement two-thirds of the way down for the nest 
proper; but the materials are not twisted like a rope, and 
consist of small pieces of light twigs, weed-stems, and dry 
leaves, all held together by a tangle of the black hair-like 
vegetable fibres so often seen in nests. These fibres grow 
out of the bits of twigs, &c., and the bird had chosen such 
bits as had the fibres attached. The inside of the nest is 
lined with fine soft bark-fibres. The whole was hung on a 
thorny shrub. Both the eggs (Nos. 493, 494) measure 
18 x 13 mm. 
[They are of a rather long oval shape and devoid of gloss. 
The pale buff-coloured ground is almost obscured by dense 
mottlings of various shades of dark brown, which cover 
almost the entire shell.—W. R. O.-G.] 
ClNNYRIS JOHANNA. 
Reich. V. A. iii. p. 485. 
Nos. 2918, 4214. Both £ ad. Bitye. 
The liquid contents of the stomach of one of these birds 
was tasted and found to be sweet. I believe that the 
principal food of the adults of all species of Cinnyris is 
the nectar of flowers, not insects. Remains of spiders, 
however, were found in the same stomach. 
Cinnyris chloropygius. (Plate XI. figs. 24-26, eggs.) 
Bates, Ibis, 1909, p. 64. 
Cinnyris preussi Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 338. 
I have seen this very common little Sunbird hovering 
before flowers in the manner of Humming-birds, but not for 
long at a time. 
Females of this species (Nos. 4027, 4185, 4210) and 
two others not preserved, all shewing evidence of sitting 
or of recent laying, were brought with their nests. These 
were found in all seasons, the months being March, May, 
June, November, and December. The nests were made 
of the same materials as those of C. obscui'us, with the 
addition of a decoration of white lichens on the outside and 
a lining of.down like thistle-down. 
