THE HONEY-GUIDES 71 



very meager sort that the ratel is an associate of the variegated honey- 

 guide as well as of the greater honey-guide. 



Cerophagy 



The cerophagous, or wax-eating, habit of the honey-guides under- 

 lies their interest in bees' nests, and hence is at the base of their 

 "guiding" behavior. Although for many years naturalists had noticed 

 the presence of beeswax in the gizzards of specimens collected, it was 

 not until very recently that it became apparent that it was the wax 

 of the comb and not the bee larvae or the honey or other food stored 

 therein that was the prime desideratum of the bh-ds. 



Lest it be questioned at this point that the beeswax as such is the 

 real desideratum rather than the pollen, honey, and larvae in the 

 comb, it should be stressed that we have definite observations show- 

 ing that when given the choice between dry, empty comb and comb 

 full of honey and larvae the birds seem to prefer the dry wax. In 

 this connection we may recall Culbert's (1947) observations of honey- 

 guides flying into a shed where he kept empty hives fitted with 

 foundation wax and eating this obviously dry, supposedly nonnutri- 

 tious wax. Mr. Culbert has written me some additional details. 

 He usually prepared all his honey supers and stacked them in sheds 

 at the different apiaries ready for the honey flows. He would leave 

 them open "and the honey-guides would eat the wax as far as they 

 could reach. They also go in the hive entrances if left fully open 

 [that is, hives without bees] and eat the foundation wax up through 

 the frame. I have seen them do it many times." The foundation 

 wax used was made of pure beeswax, not of synthetic substances. 

 Culbert also put a piece of new white comb and a piece of old comb 

 containing bee larvae on a branch of a tree and found the honey- 

 guides ate the new comb but never touched the old one. 



Additional instances of these birds feeding on plain wax are not 

 wanting. In Uganda, Pitman (in litt.) recorded two clear-cut cases 

 of honey-guides getting wax by their own efforts. In one case the 

 bird found on a verandah a tin into which wax had been poured. In 

 the other, the bird came into a shed where a swarm of bees had begun 

 to build and then deserted. Recently Cheesman (1952) wrote as 

 follows : 



Two years ago, while putting in new foundation wax, I returned after a tempo- 

 rary absence to find it in shreds. Questioning my native assistant, the blame was 

 put on the honeybirds which were seen perched in the trees nearby. Subsequently 

 I placed an inner cover over the wax super and on my return I was most surprised 

 to find that three honeybirds had gained entrance via the uncovered bee escape 

 well. I was astonished that the honeybird could relish wax which had not a 

 vestige of honey, could detect its presence and find ingress via such a small and 

 awkward hole. 



