68 BULLETIN 2 08, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



finds that the pattern of the social companion is generally poor in 

 inborn characteristics, so that a great deal of latitude is given to the 

 imprinting of the object chosen. He writes that he did not know of a 

 single kind of bird with well developed social tendencies whose social 

 instincts could not be molded upon the human being. 



The human element has also tended to cloud the possibility that 

 guiding may occur in some of the species of honey-guides which do not 

 extend this habit to include human associates but may restrict it to 

 some mammalian or other forest denizen rarely, if ever, observed in 

 this capacity by human eyes. Of this we know nothing, and, of course, 

 it may have no existence in reality, but we cannot dismiss it summarily 

 for lack of evidence. 



But, if the honey-guides, as they roam about through the bush, were 

 to see one of the creatures they associated with when feeding previously 

 at some time at bees' nests, they might become "excited" and noisy. 

 That would furnish a possible starting point for "guiding" to bees' 

 nests. It is necessary to digress for a moment to discuss briefly the 

 difference between mere "excitement" and its possibly induced vocal- 

 isms on the one hand and guiding behavior on the other. Helmet- 

 shrikes of the genera Sigmodus and Prionops are frequently reported 

 by natives to "scold" loudly when they see a leopard, thus serving, 

 inadvertently, to attract the attention of any passing human being. 

 In the Cameroon forest there are squirrels which give a special call 

 when they come across a large snake, and the native hunters know this 

 call and make use of it to help in their search for the snake. The 

 squirrel gains little by this behavior and does not really lead men to 

 the snake. Furthermore, it appears likely that this special call would 

 be given regardless of the presence or absence of a human nearby. 

 But there is no reason to think that the honey-guides react to bees as 

 to enemies, ^^ but rather that such reaction is an indication of the pres- 

 ence of wax which they want to eat. 



The animals that the honey-guides meet with at the bee trees are 

 ordinarily intent only on opening the bees' nests and eating the con- 

 tents, and are, therefore, not frightening to the birds, which merely 

 wait quitely nearby for their turn to come down and feed on the 

 scraps left strewn about. It appears that the birds come to associate 

 the sight of these foragers with bees' nests and subsequently the sight 

 of any of them, when encountered elsewhere, may evoke in the birds an 

 apparently excited vocal response. That it really is something akin to 

 associative memory is suggested by the fact that in areas where native 

 humans no longer open wild bees' nests (but rely for sweets on trading 



" It is true that Hoesch (1937) tried to interpret guiding as an attempt on the 

 part of the birds to lead associates to destroy their mutual "enemies," the bees, 

 but this cannot be taken seriously. 



