THE HONEY-GUIDES 139 



In spite of the paucity of data on egg laying, there are some cases 

 on record that indicate that the laying by the host and by the parasite 

 are not always well synchronized. Thus, in one nest of Upupa 

 africana, Neuby-Varty records the honey-guide egg was fresh and 

 the three eggs of the hoopoe were well advanced in incubation, showing 

 that the parasite must have laid in the nest a considerable time after 

 the victim had commenced to incubate. On the other hand, we may 

 point to the case of a nest of Melittophagus pusillus meridionalis 

 containing three fresh eggs of the host together with a recently 

 hatched honey-guide chick. Another similar case was found at 

 Discovery, Transvaal, by G. H. Patten. 



There is a notable lack of recorded observations on the approach 

 of greater honey-guides to the nests of their victims compared with 

 the numbers of such cases described for the lesser honey-guide. This 

 may mean that I. indicator actually has far fewer fights with its 

 victims or that it lays its eggs very early in the morning and has 

 therefore gone unobserved in the act by naturalists. It is evidently 

 not mobbed by other birds the way /. minor frequently is. 



Nothing is laiown as to the length of the incubation period. Farther 

 on (p. 192) we give some evidence suggesting that in the related 

 /. minor the period is from 11 to 16 days. This is a point in the 

 life history of aU the honey-guides about which data are badly needed. 



Hosts or Victims 



The known victims of the greater honey-guide's parasitism number 

 30 species, or, including subspecies, 35 forms. The hosts are mostly 

 hole-nesting birds — tw^o species of kingfishers, four of bee-eaters, two 

 of wood hoopoes, one of hoopoes, five of barbets, four of woodpeckers, 

 two of thrushes, four of starlings, and two of weaver finches. Of the 

 remaining species, two of the three swallows are almost hole-nesters 

 in effect as their nests are closed, and hence, dark inside, w^hile the 

 third swallow and one thrush build in shaded crevices under rocks 

 and ledges. Only one of the recorded hosts, a drongo, builds an open 

 nest in an open position, and this one record seems to be erroneous. 

 The number of host species imdoubtedly will be increased as more 

 field data are recorded. From many parts of Africa there are avail- 

 able no host records whatever — areas as rich in bird life and as large 

 as the Belgian Congo, Tanganyika Territory, the Anglo-Egyptian 

 Sudan, Abyssinia, and all of West Africa, except for a very few records 

 from Nigeria. It follows that it is premature to say which species 

 are the most frequently parasitized, but of those now known to be vic- 

 tims of the greater honey-guide the following are the ones with the 

 largest number of records (out of a total of 96 instances): Melitto- 



