26 BULLETIN 208, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



small scraps and pieces of the honeycomb, wax, and the dead bees 

 that are left when the natives get through robbing the hive. 



From the northern end of the bird's range comes the next observa- 

 tion, in Father Jerome Lobo's "Voyage to Abyssinia," written in 

 Portuguese in 1659 but not printed until 1728, when it was brought 

 out in French by Le Grand. It v»'as translated into English in 1789 

 by no less famous a figure in English literature than the great lexi- 

 cographer, Samuel Johnson. I quote from the latter's version of 

 ". . . the Moroc, or honey-bird, which is furnished by nature with 

 a peculiar instinct, or faculty of discovering honey. They have here 

 multitudes of bees of various kinds ... of the wild ones, some place 

 their honey in hollow trees, others hide it in holes in the ground, 

 which they cover so carefully, that though they are commonly in 

 the highway, they are seldom found, unless by the Moroc's help; 

 which, when he has discovered any honey, repairs immediately to 

 the roadside, and when he sees a traveller, sings, and claps his wings; 

 making many motions to invite him to follow him, and when he per- 

 ceives him coming, flies before him from tree to tree, till he comes to 

 the place where the bees have stored their treasure, and then begins 

 to sing melodiously. The Abyssin takes the honey, without failing 

 to leave part of it for the bird, to reward him for his information." 



Johann Otto Helbigius (1680, p. 454), a German physician in the 

 service of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia v/ho went to 

 Java via the Cape of Good Hope some time before 1677, published 

 a brief statement of the bird's guiding habit but erroneously described 

 the bird as green hke a parrot. (I am indebted to Dr. Stresemann for 

 calling this reference to my attention.) 



Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi da Montecucculo (1687, pp. i, 59) refers 

 to the honey-guide by the West African native appellation "sengo," 

 and mentions that it leads natives to bees' nests. 



Jobus Ludolphus (1682, translated by J. P.) describes the 

 greater honey-guide imder the local Abyssinian name of "pipi" as 

 leading men to wild beasts, but notes that in Guinea, where it is called 

 "fonton," it is reported to "betray not only Wild Beasts, but also 

 Serpents and Bees." 



In his "A Voyage to Congo ... in the year 1682 . . .," Father 

 Jerome MeroUa da Sorrento (1744, p. 566) makes a brief mention of 

 the greater honey-guide, and states that while it usually leads natives 

 to honey it may at times lead them to a lion or other dangerous crea- 

 ture. Merolla's work is printed in English translation in Chm-chill's 

 "A Collection of Voyages and Travels . . .," volume 1, 1744. 



The next mention of the bird is again from southern Africa, in a 

 letter written in 1695 by J. G. de Grevenbroek (in Schapera and 

 Farrington, 1933, p. 177), who states he has observed that "Africans 



