Mr. W. R. Ogil vie-Grant on a rare Weaver-bird . 435 
1213. P od[cipes crlstatus (Linn.). 
At least six pairs of Great Crested Grebes nested this 
spring on Kouklia reservoir. I obtained the first eggs on 
May the 6th from Mr. A. Douglas. 
XIX .—Note on a rare Weaver-bird (Othyphantes batesi). 
By W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, M.B.O.U. 
(Plate VI.) 
This very handsome species of Weaver-bird was described 
by the late Dr. Bowdler Sharpe as Othyphantes batesi from 
a female procured by Mr. G. L. Bates on the River Ja, 
Cameroon (cf. Ibis, 1908, p. 348). The type-specimen, 
which bears the collector’s number 1372, has the cheeks olive- 
yellow mixed with black, and is evidently not quite mature. 
Subsequently the same collector forwarded to the British 
Museum an adult male bird, shot at Kumangola, River Ja, 
which he believed to be referable to the same species, and 
Dr. Sharpe exhibited it as such \cf. Bull. B. O. C. xxv. p. 41 
(1909)]. 
Mr. Bates’s description is as follows 
“Adult male .—Somewhat resembles the male of Sitagra 
brachyptera (Swains.), from which it differs chiefly in having 
the crown and entire sides of the head chestnut and in lacking 
the black patch behind the eye, while the upper parts are 
darker olive-green. The chin is chestnut and the yellow of the 
under parts commences directly below the black throat. Iris 
dark brown; bill black; feet bluish-grey. Total length about 
5-5 inches; culmen 07; wing 2*85; tail 1*85; tarsus 075. 
(c Hab. River Ja, Cameroon, 17th November, 1908.” 
The types-pecimen, as already stated, is not quite mature, 
and Mr. Bates informs us that in the fully adult female 
the “ sides of the head are perfectly black.” In the type- 
specimen the bastard primary is longer than in the adult 
male and measures T05 inch, as compared with 0'7 inch, but 
this, no doubt, is also a sign of immaturity. 
The lower figure in Plate YI. represents the not quite 
adult female and the upper figure the adult male. 
2 f 2 
