642 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
upper stories of the primeval growth especially at times when the trees are 
in flower. Insectivorous Kingfishers, as the Gray-headed (Halcyon leucoceph- 
alus) and the Chocolate-backed (H. badius), are occasional in the lower story 
of the forest, as well as sundry species of barbets, two of orioles, and two of 
drongos (Dicrurus), of which the Fork-tailed is the commoner species, inter- 
esting as a sort of flycatcher-like modification of the starlings. Woodpeckers 
are uncommon but two or three dull-colored species that feed chiefly on ants 
are occasionally seen. Now and then one catches a flash of color as a beautiful 
orange and blue-black Paradise Flycatcher sweeps past an opening to alight 
among the thickets farther on, but in the lower story of the forest and among 
the thickets generally the birds are prevailingly dull in color, chiefly olive green 
with a touch of yellow or white to break the concolor effect, as among the bul- 
buls, or again the birds may be dense black like the shadows relieved by a 
touch of scarlet or chestnut as many of the thicket-loving forest weavers of 
the genera Malimbus, Nigrita, or Melanopteryx. A persistent singer in shaded 
tangles of hanging vines is the Yellow-whiskered Bulbul (Andropadus lati- 
rostris congener) while the larger and talkative White-bellied Bulbul especially 
favors the swampy parts of the forest, where Raphia palms grow in the standing 
water or by the edges of streams. On the forest floor Ant-thrushes (P2tia) 
and some of the wren-like or thrush-like birds of the genera Alethe, Geocichla, 
and Turdinus are common though exceedingly difficult to see in the tangled 
thickets and still harder to collect, for at the least movement they are gone. 
Caution overcomes curiosity in these forest and thicket birds, for they seldom 
pause to look the intruder over but dash into the midst of a dense bush instead 
of stopping on the outer part, and birds flying across a forest path disappear 
at once into the jungle of the opposite side without waiting to see what it was 
that frightened them. This habit is in such marked contrast to the more in- 
quiring ways of many of our northern birds that it was at once noticeable. 
Of all the thicket-dwellers, the little Olive-green Bulbul is perhaps the com- 
monest and at the same time one of the very elusive ones. So well does it keep 
concealed in the densest cover that even though its song was daily heard about 
the villages and on the edges of the forest it was weeks before we were able to 
connect the singer with its somewhat wren-like utterance. Bush shrikes of 
several species are common in the lower story of these woods, of which the 
Yellow-spotted (Nicator chloris) is perhaps the one most often heard, for all 
are so secretive and inhabit such dense cover that their presence is difficult to 
detect and for several there are only one or two records by Biittikofer and his 
associates who collected birds intensively for several years. A number of 
small flycatchers live in the thickets along streams or in the more open places 
of the forest, such as the species of Diaphorophyia with a curious wattle over 
the eye, a slaty-blue T’rochocercus, the White-throated Flycatcher (Pedilo- 
rhynchus comitatus), and others of the genera Bias, Megabias, Cassinia, and the 
broad-billed Smithornis. The number of inconspicuously colored bulbuls is 
notable, including several species each of Andropadus, Bleda, and Phyllas- 
trephus, and such timaliines as Cossypha, Bessonornis, and Stiphrornis, besides 
