60 
Mr. G-. L. Bates— Field-Notes on the 
Pycnonotus gabonensis. [Nkwe’ele, or Kwalawata.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 463. 
No mistake was made in calling the Nkwe’ele “ a versatile 
bird ” The Ibis/ 1905, p. 98). It has many habits usually 
associated with other birds. It so frequently clings by its 
claws to the bark of a tree, using its tail for a support, that 
the tail-feathers become broken, and it is rather rare to 
see a bird with all its tail-feathers whole. It eats fruits, 
but seems to prefer insects. When an army of driver-ants 
spreads itself among the bushes of the open land around 
villages (the Nkwe'ele never goes into the forest), these birds 
may be seen busily pecking and eating something as they 
hop about to keep out of the way of the ants. But it is not 
the ants themselves that they eat, but the other insects— 
beetles, cockroaches, crickets, &c.-—that are driven by the 
ants from their hiding-places. This I know in one case at 
least by examining the stomach of a bird shot among the 
ants. 
An egg measures 24*5x17 mm. (See also f Ibis/ 1907, 
p. 463.) 
[Three eggs of the usual Bulbul type, of a rather bluntly 
pointed oval shape and slightly glossy; the ground-colour is 
white, densely and finely mottled and freckled all over with 
pale lilac-grey and light red, the markings in some cases 
being more or less concentrated into a zone round the larger 
end.—O.-G.] 
1829. Anthothreptes fraseri. 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1908, p. 340. 
This plain green Sunbird is a bird of the forest, and was 
more abundant at Efulen than at the Ja. It is a common 
member of the ejah (see f Ibis/ 1905, p. 462). Its food 
consists of insects of all kinds, as well as spiders. 
The remarkable little song of some small forest-bird, to 
which I have often listened, I am almost satisfied is sung by 
this bird, as my boys say they have heard the bird sing it, 
and I myself have heard the song in places where it 
was to be expected. It consists of four musical notes in a 
