108 BULLETIN 2 08, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



is probably really referable to the greater honey-guide, Indicator indi- 

 cator. The data are as follows. Haagner and Ivy (1907a) collected 

 a young chick attributed to Indicator variegatus from a nest of a 

 yellow-throated sparrow in the Albany Division, Cape Province, on 

 November 12, 1905. The bird was still practically naked, and its 

 identification to this honey-guide rather than to /. indicator appar- 

 ently was based on the fact that an adult scaly-throated honey-guide 

 was seen in the tree in which the nest hole v/as found. The identi- 

 fication is not conclusive as a wandering individual of any species 

 of honey-guide might have happened to have come to the tree. The 

 chick was thought by Haagner to have been not more than 10 days 

 old; it was the sole occupant of the nest. Gill (1945, pp. 91-92) 

 lists this sparrow as a host of the variegated honey-guide, based on 

 the above record of Haagner 's. 



Nestling Stage 



While a number of chicks of the scaly-throated honey-guide have 

 been found in nests of such hosts as the Nubian woodpecker (Campe- 

 thera nubica), the golden-tailed woodpecker (Campethera ahingoni), 

 the cardinal woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens) , and the gray wood- 

 pecker (Mesopicos goertae), unfortunately in most cases their discov- 

 erers made no notes on them other than in some instances stating 

 that they were the sole occupants of the nests. It seems likely that 

 sole nest occupancy is the rule, although there is one case known 

 where a young olive woodpecker and a young honey-guide apparently 

 grew up together. In this instance the birds were not found until 

 after they had left the nest, and they were seen being fed by the 

 adult woodpeckers. While not wholly certain, it seems that the two 

 fledglings probably had been nest mates. 



Haagner and Ivy (1907a, pp. 2-4) described a young chick, pre- 

 sumed to be of this honey-guide, found in a nest of a yellow-throated 

 sparrow, Petronia superciliaris , in the Albany Division, Cape Province. 

 (The identification cannot be looked upon as definite; it might have 

 been /. indicator.) It was alone in the nest, was presumed to be 

 not more than ten days old, was about 90 mm. in total length, and 

 could hardly open its eyes, keeping them almost constantly closed. 

 The bird was practically naked, the feathers barely beginning to 

 sprout from their sheaths on the thighs. The tip of the bill was fur- 

 nished with a pair of hard, strong, very sharp, semitransparent hooks, 

 one on the maxilla and one on the mandible. ''These tooth-like 

 appendages measure 1.8 mm. in total length, the projecting portion 

 of the top tooth being 0.9 mm. and that of the bottom one 0.5 mm., 

 and are situated at the extremity of ^^ the beak; the superior aspect 



