62 BULLETIN 208, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



almost never observed doing so. Not only would these symbionts 

 quickly make off into the bush at the advent of a human, but one 

 need only recall how very few actual eye-witness accounts of the 

 honey-guide and ratel association I have been able to gather from 

 areas where guiding still takes place with the native African to realize 

 how improbable it is that such events would be seen and recorded. 

 In the vicinity of Nairobi, for example, baboons are still common 

 although ratels have become scarce, but possibly not as scarce as the 

 paucity of records might suggest. In answer to a query of mine as to 

 whether the natives in that area still make a practice of opening wild 

 bees' nests for the honey they contain, and, if they do, whether 

 honey-guides may not infrequently attend the openings of these hives 

 even though they have not guided the natives to them, Mr. John G. 

 Williams informs me that it is extremely unlikely that any native 

 around Naii^obi would go to the trouble of opening up a wild bees' 

 nest. He made extensive inquiries amongst the natives, who replied 

 by asking why should they run the risk of getting badly stung when 

 they can go to the local duka (shop) and buy sugar, or get honey from 

 their own hives. They usually get the honey from their own hives 

 after dark, thereby reducing the chances of being stung by the bees. 

 This has the effect of eliminating this activity from the experience of 

 such strictly diurnal creatures as the honey-guides, which consequently 

 have no occasion to associate the African native with bees' nests. 



An unsolicited, corroborative observation comes from Mr. J. Hilton, 

 of the Kenya National Parks, who writes that "one curious note on 

 the honey-guide is that its associations with man only appear to occur 

 in certain areas, usually those frequented by honey hunters. In other 

 areas the bird is present but never tries to attract the attention of 

 man." 



After the foregoing discussion had been written, Queeny (1952, 

 p. 396) came to a similar and wholly independent conclusion. He 

 writes that "at one time this unique partnership between man and 

 bird prevailed over the greater part of Africa. . . . But wherever 

 white man encroaches, money is introduced and becomes integrated 

 with the native economy. The natives then earn money-wages. 

 . . . Trading stores spring up, and the natives buy their sweets 

 from Indian merchants instead of securing them from nature. . . . 

 Hence, near Nairobi and wherever white man's ways have become 

 established, Indicator indicator finds fewer and fewer natives who will 

 respond to its call. In these areas, generations of co-operation have 

 come to an end and the unique partnership has withered away." 



Thus, with the natives' increasing indifference to the birds and the 

 birds' lack of occasion for associating humans with other openers of 

 bees' nests, it is understandable that guiding might lessen or even 



