THE HONEY-GUIDES 75 



alimentary canal. This is precisely what has been found. Contrasted 

 with the low values of these two samples of bee comb are the results 

 obtained from study of wax from the gizzard of one variegated honey- 

 guide, Indicator variegatus, and from the droppings of two lesser 

 honey-guides, Indicator minor. Two samples of wax from the gizzard 

 of the first-named species had saponification numbers of 109.3 and 

 112.4 mg. KOH/gm., while six samples from the droppings of the 

 latter species (captive birds that had been fed on wax and water for 

 several days) revealed saponification numbers of 156.1, 166.6, 167, 

 177, 200, and 219 mg. KOH/gm. The highest values were from the 

 droppings after only 48 hours of wax-feeding. The relatively high 

 saponification values of the wax from the gizzard and from the 

 droppings indicate that either the microflora of the alimentary canal 

 or the endogenous avian enzymes are capable of splitting these waxes 

 into fatty acids of considerably lower molecular weight, so that it 

 becomes possible for the bu'ds to extract nourishment from them. 



The fact that the droppings after only 48 hours of wax eating 

 had higher values than did those from the birds after 72 or more hours 

 of this diet suggests that the bii-ds became progressively hungrier on 

 this unnaturally restricted intake and were thus caused to assimilate a 

 greater percent of the material and probably of the components with 

 the lower rather than the higher molecular weights. It should also be 

 pointed out that little adsorption of fatty materials takes place in 

 the lower part of the digestive tract, and that the higher saponifica- 

 tion values of the droppings may reflect continued activity of the 

 micro-organisms on them even after they were excreted by the birds. 

 If, as seems not impossible, some of the wax components had com- 

 bined in the intestine with calcium salts they would no longer have 

 been adsorbed at all. 



In response to my suggestion, Gordon Ranger trapped two live lesser 

 honey-guides and kept them in a cage on a diet of nothing but dried, 

 cleaned beeswax taken from the cappings from cells that had been 

 built on an artificial foundation (manufactured for apiculturists by 

 A. I. Root, Medina, Ohio, and by whom I am informed that these 

 foundations are made of pure beeswax). While wild bee comb con- 

 tains impurities, especially scleroproteins, it is largely made of wax, 

 and in this case it was probably even less mixed with such foreign 

 materials than usual. One of the birds lived for 29 days, the other 

 for 32 days. 



The latter was quite emaciated at the time of death, but the former 

 showed no obvious signs of hunger. Both birds lost some of their 

 equilibrium and were unable to perch for a fesv days before death, 

 throwing back their heads and giving an impression of "floppiness" of 

 wings and legs. For 11 of the days Ranger weighed the quantity of 



