Birds of Southern Kamerun. 
21 
not so tough; they are of material that will burn. When 
one is touched myriads of ants swarm out. One day my 
boy saw a Woodpecker enter a hole in one of these ants’ 
nests. He covered up the hole, and thrust a palm-stalk 
dart through the ants’ nest, transfixing the bird ; and then 
brought ants’ nest, bird and all tome. The bird was a male 
of this species, and forms my specimen No. 2871. The 
ants’ nest was almost deserted by ants, yet two or three 
were seen crawling over it. The bird and its mate must 
have first eaten the ants (which would make a number of 
meals, I should think), and then made a hollow in the 
deserted home and used it for their own breeding-hole. The 
cavity was large and would be easy to excavate. There were 
two eggs, which both measured 22 x 18 mm. 
[Two eggs are of a rather short and perfectly oval shape, 
slightly glossy and pure white.—O.-G.] 
767. Dendropicus lafresnayi. [Ngomoko.] 
Deyidropicus camerunensis Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 443. 
Dendropicus lafresnayi Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 620. 
776. Dendropicus gabonensis. [Ngomoko ] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 619; 1907, p. 443. 
These are both birds of the open country and second- 
growth forest, and are never found in the primitive 
forest. D. lafresnayi was the commoner species at the Ja, 
D. gabonensis at Efulen. These Woodpeckers differ from 
Dendromus in their food ; for they were never found to have 
eaten ants. Small white grubs were the usual contents of 
their stomachs. 
The lively cry of Dendropicus lafresnayi was one of the 
commonest bird-sounds in the bushes and small trees 
surrounding Bitye. At Efulen, too, I heard a bird that 
looked like Dendropicus (probably D. gabonensis) utter a 
shrill piercing cry. 
778. Colius nigricollis nigriscapalis. [NsesaL] 
Colius nigriscapalis Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 434. 
As I have already said something ( f Ibis,’ 1907, p. 434) 
of the general habits of the Colies, I will speak only of 
