THE HONEY-GUIDES 141 



agree "that there is no reason to think that it is not attributable to 

 a honey-guide. The measurements agree with those of the Black- 

 throated Honey-guide, 7. indicator. It is unlikely that in this partic- 

 ular locality, which I know well, the Scaly-throated Honey-guide, 

 /. variegatus, whose eggs would appear to be of similar size [see Koberts, 

 1939, pp. 101-102] could have been the parasite concerned." 



More recently Benson (1953, p. 45) lists this bee-eater as a host of 

 I. indicator without expressing any doubt about it. 



Melittophagus pusillus meridionalis Sharpe. Southern little bee-eater. 



Melittophagus meridionalis Sharpe, Catalogue of the birds of the British 

 Museum, vol. 17, p. 45, pi. 1, fig. 4, 1892. (Pinetown, Natal.) 



This bird is a frequent host, and perhaps is the species most often 

 victimized in southern Africa. I have data on no less than 19 such 

 parasitized nests. 



Near Durban North, Natal, Walter J. Lawson (in htt. to C. J. Skead) 

 found several such cases; in four of them the bee-eaters' eggs were 

 punctured, apparently by the honey-guide when laying. 



Plowes (in litt.) informs me that at the Matopos Research Station, 

 about 20 miles from Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, he opened four 

 nests of the little bee-eater and found all of them to be parasitized by 

 the greater honey-guide. One nest, examined on November 13, con- 

 tained only a young chick of the parasite; one found November 26 

 had one honey-guide egg with three of the bee-eater; whUe two nests 

 opened on December 9 contained a lone chick of the honey-guide in 

 one case and one honey-guide's egg with four of the bee-eater's in the 

 other one. The fact that no great search was made for bee-eater's 

 nests yet such a large percentage was found victimized suggests that 

 this species must be a frequent victim of the greater honey-guide in 

 Southern Rhodesia. 



This bee-eater has also been found to be parasitized at the Wankie 

 Game Reserve, Southern Rhodesia, 



A. W. Vincent (1946, pp. 323-324) has taken eggs, presumably of 

 /. indicator, from nests of this and two other species of bee-eaters. 



A. Roberts (1939, pp. 100-102) found a young chick of the greater 

 honey-guide in a nest of this bee-eater together with three fresh eggs 

 of the bee-eater at Pretoria on November 4, 1910. It was this record 

 that Haagner erroneously published as from a nest of the Cape 

 sparrow, Passer melanurus. 



Benson (1950, pp. 478-479) notes that his native collector obtained 

 at Mitongwe, Ncheu district, Nyasaland, on December 19, 1949, a 

 fledged young greater honey-guide which was following and soliciting 

 food from a little bee-eater. He further relates that at Mpinganjila's 

 village, near the north end of Lake Pamalombe, A. H. Paget-Wilkes 

 "found a fully fledged honey-guide at the end of a nesting hole two 



