39 
Birds of Southern Kamerun. 
two dozen. They have not often been heard to use their 
voices, but I have detected faint little cries, like feeble 
imitations of the ringing Si kwang ” of the chief of their 
family. Their quick flight in perfect unison, with their 
long tails all pointing the same way, reminded me of a lot 
of little fishes darting in a clear stream. 
The boy who shot my last two specimens, a breeding male 
and a breeding female, said that there were a number of them 
about a dead tree-trunk that had holes in it, like the holes 
of the Ovol ( Gymnobucco ). 
They eat the same fruits as the other Starlings. The 
colour of the iris is bright yellow. 
1312. Malimbus nitens. [Nga'a-minkan.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 352. 
In the great forest, which reaches its fullest development 
in the hilly country around Efulen, the path of the hunter 
often leads him over the pebbly bed of a stream, where he 
wades through the clear water and dodges the overhanging 
branches and vines. Attached to these overhanging branches, 
not much higher than his head over the water of the brook, 
he often sees Weavers' nests, in size and structure much like 
those of the common village Hyphantornis , but woven of 
different materials—long rootlets or runners, such as would 
be found in the forest. These are the nests of Malimbus 
nitens. They are nearly always empty, for the builders 
never seem to use them but once, and are always seeking 
some new and more retired spot. There is never more than 
one nest in a place. The only egg I ever found has already 
been described ( f Ibis/ 1908, p. 352). 
1313. Malimbus cassini. [Nga'a-minkan.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 352. 
No. 1049. ? ad. In 4 The Ibis 3 (/. c.) this specimen has 
been put under Melanopteryx niyerrimus. Though the 
plumage is perfectly black, the bird differs from the adult male 
of Melanopteryx niyerrimus in the following particulars :—Bill 
slenderer and at the same time shorter (culmen 15*5 mm.), 
in Melanopteryx niyerrimus the culmen is never less than 
