146 BULLETIN 208, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



to leave the chick in the nest in order to confirm the identification when it was 

 fully fledged, and blocked up the slit I had made in the tree with a piece of bark. 

 On hearing of this discovery, Dr. Roberts expressed a desire to have the chick 

 as a specimen whilst it still had the hooks on its beak, so that after about 10 

 days the nest was revisited. The piece of bark had fallen away in the meantime, 

 yet the Hoopoes continued feeding the fully exposed chick. In the 10 or 11 days 

 since hatching, it had grown surprisingly rapidly. The two hooks were still in- 

 tact, and did not appear to have increased in size, although the bill had now nearly 

 assumed its adult size and shape. Feathers were sprouting from all over the body, 

 and those of the throat were a pale lemon-yellow, confirming the identity as a 

 Greater Honeyguide, this being endorsed by Dr. Roberts. The eyes were open 

 and the feet still retained their zygodactylous habit. 



The chick is now preserved in spirits in the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria. 

 Lybius torquatus torquatus (Dumont). Black-collared barbet. 



Bucco torquatus Dumont, Dictiounaire des sciences naturelle, ed. Levrault, 

 vol. 4, p. 56, 1817. (Brazil, error= South Africa, Goffin in Schlegel, Museum 

 des Pays-Bas, No. 15, Buccones, p. 4, 1863.) 



This barbet is one of the most frequently imposed upon hosts of the 

 lesser honey-guide, and has been recorded, a fewer number of times, 

 as a victim of Indicator indicator as well. The pertinent data are the 

 following. 



Layard (1875-1884, pp. 168-169) lists this barbet as a victim of the 

 greater honey-guide. 



A. Roberts (1939, pp. 100-102) vmtes that in the Transvaal Museum 

 is a set of four eggs of this barbet and one of /. indicator, collected at 

 Pongola River, Zululand, December 2, 1920. This seems to be the 

 same case mentioned by Priest (1948, pp. 63-64). 



A set of four eggs of the barbet with one of the greater honey-guide, 

 taken at Umvukwe Ranch, Banket, Southern Rhodesia, by B. M. 

 Neuby-Varty, is now in the collection of Mr. C. H. Jerome, of Est- 

 court. Natal. 



Further evidence suggestive of mutual relationships between the 

 barbet and the honey-guide may be sensed from the fact that near 

 the Mtetezi River, Northern Rhodesia, Winterbottom (1936, p. 775) 

 saw one of these barbets chasing a greater honey-guide, and in Natal 

 I was told by Mr. H. M. Millar that he once saw a "pair" of the 

 honey-guides at a nest hole of this barbet. The barbet chased away 

 the male honey-guide, whereupon the female honey-guide slipped into 

 the nest. The nest being inaccessible, Mr. Millar was not able to tell 

 definitely if the honey-guide laid an egg in it or not. 



It may be mentioned that in at least one of the known cases of the 

 yellow-throated sparrow serving as a host of the greater honey-guide 

 the birds were using an old nest hole of a black-collared barbet. 



Tricholaema leucomelan leucomelan (Boddaert) . Pied barbet. 



Bucco leucomelas Boddaert, Table des planches enlumin^ez d'histoire natu- 

 relle, p. 43, 1783. (Cape of Good Hope, ex Daubenton, Planches enlumin^es, 

 pi, 688, fig. 1.) 



