THE HONEY-GUIDES 109 



of the top tooth being prolonged slightly above the surface of the 

 premaxilla, while the inferior aspect of the bottom one is slightly 

 projected beyond the lower level of the mandible, both having the 

 distinct appearance of being welded on to the ends. They overlap 

 one another, thus enabling'|the bird to obtain a very sure hold of 

 anything it applied its beak to . . . The hooks apparently fall off 

 when the bird is fully adult." ^° Haagner and Ivy also noted that 

 the nostrils have "the same swollen appearance as those of young 

 Cuckoos, but instead of being rounded as in the Cuculidae, they are 

 of an elongated ovate form, appearing more in the form of slits." 

 Nothing is known of the length of the nestling stage. 



PosTNEST Fledgling 



Very little has been learned of the postnest fledgling life of the 

 scaly-throated honey-guide. It appears, from loose statements, that 

 the bird either leaves the nest nearly fully grown or is attended by 

 its foster parents until it has reached that stage. How to interpret 

 a description without supporting detail, such as "seeing a fully fledged 

 honey-guide being fed by" a fosterer is therefore not clear. 



Moreau's native collector reported seeing a fledgling Indicator 

 variegatus side by side with a young olive woodpecker, Mesopicos 

 griseocephalus kilimensis, both being fed by the parents of the latter 

 species at Amani, Tanganyika Territory (Sclater and Moreau, p. 

 665, 1932), and that both young birds were giving similar hunger calls. 



Sassi and Zimmer (1941, p. 288) quote their collector as having 

 observed a fledgling variegated honey-guide foraging like a wood- 

 pecker and following after its (unidentified) picine foster parent, and 

 even attempting to climb up a tree trunk perpendicularly. This feat 

 was barely accomplished by it, and only with much clumsy and 

 vigorous fluttering, beating of the wings. 



There is no evidence behind the statement sometimes made (as by 

 Finn, 1919, p. 200) that the adult scaly-throated honey-guides asso- 

 ciate with the young "when reared, and perhaps instruct them un- 

 consciously or otherwise." Any "association," as when an immature 

 and an adult may be found together, is no more significant than when 

 two adults may be seen together. Finn's statement is based on one 

 attributed to Ivy, who could not have told the age of the birds with- 

 out collecting them (which he is not reported to have done). Ivy's 

 observation is the only one known to me of several of these honey- 

 guides being seen together, 



2° This is probably the basis for the statement made by Mackworth-Praed 

 and Grant (1952, p. 741) to the effect that for the first two weeks after hatch- 

 ing the nestling of this honey-guide has overlapping hooks on the maxilla and 

 mandible. If they had any other data, I have not been able to learn of them. 



