116 BULLETIN 2 08, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



locally, the former apparently more so than the latter. Not only do 

 ratels use the burrows of the aardvarks, but bee-eaters (Alelittophagus 

 vusillus), ant-eating chats (Myrmecocichla) of at least two species, and 

 swallows often nest in the roofs of these burrows and are frequent hosts 

 of the honey-guide. 



Geographical range: The range of this bird encompasses most of 

 Africa south of the Sahara, except for large evergreen forests, treeless 

 grasslands, and excessively arid areas. It has been recorded from 

 countless localities ranging from Senegal and Gambia and Portuguese 

 Guinea, eastward in the thorn scrub belt north of the forest, almost to 

 15° N. in the French Sudan, northern Nigeria, the highlands of north- 

 western Cameroons, Darfur, Sennar, Ethiopia, British Somaliland, and 

 Eritrea, and southward, skirting the great Congo forest, to the Cape 

 Province. In Upper Guinea it has been reported from most of the 

 countries east of Senegal (except, as yet, Liberia and Ivory Coast), but 

 appears to be less numerous, or less generally distributed, there than in 

 eastern, central, and southern Africa. The records from Senegal and 

 Portuguese Guinea are without more explicit localities; in Gambia a 

 definite specimen record comes from Nianimaru on the Gambia River; 

 in French Guinea the bird has been found in the mountains north of 

 Dabola; in the Gold Coast at the upper White Volta River, in Togoland 

 at Bismarckburg ; in the French Sudan, north to Fiko, east of Mopti, 

 nearly 15° N.; in Nigeria, north to Bassa, Kafanchan, the Plateau and 

 Bauchi Provinces; to Fort Lamy near Lake Chad; in the open tree- 

 dotted grassy high country of northern and western Cameroons at 

 Kumbo, Banyo, Fumban, Babadjou, and Mboula up to 5,500 feet; in 

 Darfur, Ljnnes found it as an off-season visitor in the West Basin; 

 farther east in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan the species is known from 

 Sennar (Roseires), Bahr-el-Ghazal (Kojali, Mongalla, Mount Baginzi), 

 and Lado Enclave (Yei, Lado, Rejab) and Kordofan districts. Farther 

 to the eastward, Zedlitz (1910, p. 744) writes that in northern Ethiopia 

 and in Eritrea it occurs in the more wooded areas; it is common in the 

 Tacazze district in the thorny bushveld of Adiaboland and also on 

 the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian plateau, but has not been 

 reported from the higher elevations of that part of Africa. It is 

 known from many localities in most parts of Ethiopia, and even in 

 the Juba area of Italian Somaliland. 



In the Belgian Congo, Chapin has found it to occur in all the savanna 

 areas except the Lower Congo and the open plateau of the Kivu district 

 (where it has since been found at Ngumba by Prigogine); it is rare or 

 absent close to the fringes of the great lowland forest, while it has 

 been taken up to 5,000 feet in the Marungu area. It is rare in the 

 savannas of the Kasai Province, and appears to be absent from the 

 grasslands of the Middle Congo and Gaboon. From Kenya Colony, 



