Verreaux's Batis

The adult male has a velvety black head with a white loral spot and narrow supercilium, the head colour fades to blackish-grey on the hindcrown and is separated from the back by a white collar. The mantle and back are velvety-black with a mottled rump which has long, fluffy feathers. The wings are very black with a contrasting white wingstripe. The tail is black with white outer tail feathers. The underparts are white except for a glossy black breast band. The bill and legs are black and the eyes are golden yellow. The females is similar to the male but has a smaller loral spot and supercilium and has a narrower dark grey breast band. They are small birds measuring 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) in length and weighing 8–12 g (0.28–0.42 oz).

Voice. The song is a series of high, evenly pitched thin short notes "pee-pee-pee-pee" which resembles a squeaky bicycle pump.

This species is very similar to the West African batis Batis occulta and this somewhat masks its true distribution but the Gabon batis has been found in Gabon, the Monte Alen National Park in Equatorial Guinea, the lowland Dja area in southern Cameroon and it has recently been discovered in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in the extreme south of the Central African Republic. The Gabon batis is found in lowland forest, normally lower than 800 m (2,600 ft). It avoids primary rainforest, other than at the forest edge, and prefers secondary forest with a dense but broken canopy and thick, low undergrowth, as well as overgrown cacao and coffee plantations. It avoids cultivated land and the vicinity of villages and other man-made habitats.