THE HONEY-GUIDES 165 



These observations make it clear that guiding is not an indispensable 

 factor in their feeding habits. And yet there is not the slightest doubt 

 that the birds eat beeswax regularly and even avidly. Certainly, 

 after a guiding trip to a bees' nest, the guide remains in the immediate 

 vicinity while its followers open up the nest, and before they are gone 

 more than a minute or two it comes down to feed on the bits of comb 

 left strewn about. Not only does the guiding bird itself do this but 

 often other individuals of the same species and even of other, non- 

 guiding species of Indicator (such as minor) join it to feed on the ex- 

 posed comb and its contents. 



Wax is present in almost all the stomachs examined or recorded. 

 Inasmuch as wax seems to be definitely boimd up with the whole 

 guiding behavior of these birds, it is necessary to consider it in such 

 detail as we can, as is done in our chapter on cerophagy (see pp 71-79). 

 While this interest in wax, as such, is unusual in birds, it may be 

 pointed out that in almost all insects, and other arthropods, there is 

 a small amount of wax present on the outer layer of the cuticle, so it 

 follows that aU insectivorous birds do swallow wax, even though in 

 very small quantities. 



Aside from wax, insects form the main food of the greater honey- 

 guide. I know of no definite observations of honey-guides eating any 

 waxy combs of any insects other than bees. It is true that many 

 years ago Butler, Feilden, and Reid (1882, p. 208) reported collecting 

 an adult female I. indicator that was seen "on the ground . . . pecking 

 at a large piece of the comb of a wasp's nest," but it is not stated 

 whether the bird was extracting wasp larvae or eating the comb 

 structure itself. Of the insects eaten, bee larvae and adult bees are 

 the most frequent, and have been found in stomachs of birds taken 

 in all parts of the range from South Africa to Ethiopia. Skead (1951, 

 p. 61) often saw greater honey-guides perching near the entrances to 

 some of his garden beehives but never noticed them feeding there as 

 do the lesser honey-guides. However, as evidenced by the fact that 

 adult bees have been found in their stomachs, they must occasionally 

 feed on them. Actual records of adult bees m the stomach contents 

 of greater honey-guides are at hand from South Africa, Kenya Colony, 

 Belgian Congo, and Ethiopia. Honey also is frequently found in the 

 stomachs of greater honey-guides in aU parts of the range. 



In Southern Rhodesia I have seen a greater honey-guide catch and 

 eat winged termites in midair in the fashion of a flycatcher, and 

 Chapin has recorded the same in the Belgian Congo. In fact, in the 

 stomach of one bhd he counted no fewer than 80 winged termites. 

 Swynnerton (1908, p. 411) also found the bird to eat termites in 

 Gazaland, Southern Rhodesia. Termites from the gizzard of a 

 greater honey-guide shot in South Africa proved to be Odontotermes 



