38 Mr. G. L. Bates— Field-Notes on the 
these birds go away at certain seasons, but find this to be a 
mistake. 
No. 2693, a sitting female of this species, was caught by 
a boy in its hole one evening in August. The hole was 
described as a large knot-hole in a living tree, only a few 
feet from the ground, but in a marsh (“ engas ”—see under 
Centropus monachus above, p. 13). The boy brought a rough, 
flat nest, composed entirely of leaf-petioles, which he said 
he took from the bottom of the hollow, and two eggs; 
these measured 31’5 x 245 mm. and 31 x 24 mm. 
[Two eggs are of a regular oval shape and almost devoid 
of gloss, the whole shell being somewhat rough to touch 
and slightly pitted. The ground-colour is pale greenish- 
blue, sparingly marked all over with spots and blotches of 
pale reddish-brown and lilac-grey.—O.-G.] 
1264. Lamprocolius purpureiceps Verr. [Kwang- 
Metondo.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 356. 
This species is called in Bulu from the name of the small 
tree on the fruit of which it is fond of feeding. It is a 
rather retiring and quiet bird, never seen in numbers except 
in the wild fruit-trees where it feeds, and seldom using its 
voice, though I have heard it make what seemed a feeble 
imitation of the clanging call of its larger and more con¬ 
spicuous relative. 
One day in June, near Efulen, I saw two of these birds 
repeatedly enter a high knot-hole, coming every time from, 
the limb of a large tree, where there may have been lichens 
or moss; they w 7 ere evidently building. I shot one (I am 
almost ashamed to say) and it proved to be a breeding male 
(No. 819). Two days after two more birds were seen to 
enter the same hole, and one was seen to have a little stick 
in its bill. Had the female whom my shot left a widow got 
another mate so soon ? 
1287. Pceoptera lugubris. [Mboyom.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 356. 
These birds are most frequently seen in flocks of about 
