25 
Birds of Southern Kamerun. 
coast, it appears only in the winter months of the north 
and does not breed. These birds, from their beauty and 
the grace of their movements, always arrest attention, and 
the occupation I was engaged in would have to be very 
absorbing indeed that I would not stop to watch a flock of 
these Bee-eaters. Their first appearance in November is an 
event of the season. 
They not only fly together during the day, but roost in 
flocks, in certain trees, at night. Just before their departure 
in the spring, especially, they gather in very large flocks, 
which may be seen going to their roosting-trees at evening, 
repeatedly flying away with a loud twittering, and circling 
back to the trees again. 
I saw the last of them about the first of April last year, 
and the year before about the same time. I think that they 
must breed on the banks of the rivers to the north. By 
November, as I understand, the dry season has set in there, 
and the means of life (that is, the supply of insects) may be 
lessened by the drought. In April it rains again there, and 
they go back. They are not influenced in these movements 
by the changes of the season in this country (Southern 
Kamerun), but rather by the changes in their other home. 
I have already spoken of the like appearance and disappear¬ 
ance of the Kites, and of the passage of the Egrets ( Bubulcus) 
twice a year. These are migrations within the Ethiopian 
region. 
Caprimulgus batest. (Plate I.) [Mvomvot.] 
Caprimulgus batesi Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 432. 
No. 2937. $ ad. Bitye, R. Ja, March 7, 1908. Sex- 
organs and skin of abdomen as of a sitting bird. 
Though I have once or twice observed this Goatsucker 
hawking for insects at dusk, it is usually seen in the day¬ 
time, when scared up from the ground, where it may have 
been sitting on its one egg, in the edge of a garden or 
plantation. Sometimes the natives have sharp enough eyes 
to see it before it flies up, and have secured my specimens 
for me. Several eggs were brought to me, but always 
