THE HONEY-GUIDES 167 



Honey-guides have been observed drinking water on several occa- 

 sions. I am informed by J, P. Chapin that Rodney Wood, in Nyasa- 

 land, noted individuals coming to drink at his birdbath. Mr. P. A. 

 Clancey tells me that when he was in Somaliland with Meinertzhagen 

 a greater honey-guide flew into their tent and perched on the rim of 

 a canvas pail partly full of water. In order to reach the water the 

 bird had to hang almost upside down, and then, after drinking, it had 

 some difficulty in righting itself again. 



I have seen loose companies of seven or eight immature (j^ellow- 

 throated) birds associated with herds of hartebeeste and oryx in 

 Kenya Colony, and a few other observers have had similar experiences. 

 The birds appeared to be picking up food from the grass around these 

 animals just as cowbirds do in the Americas. It is not improbable 

 that the}^ may glean a considerable amount of insect food scared up 

 by the grazing animals, but no data are available. 



Nestling: Skead (1951, p. 61) observed a chick of the greater 

 honey-guide in a nest of a pair of yellow-throated sparrows, Petronia 

 superciliaris, and was able to identify a grasshopper among the food 

 given it by its foster parents. On a more recent similar occurrence 

 he noted a mantis and a spider among the food given a young greater 

 honey-guide. Similarly, in "West Africa, Serle (1950, p. 88) noted two 

 swallows, Hirundo semirufa gordoni, bringing insects to a young 

 Indicator indicator in their nest. The gizzard of a nesthng greater 

 honey-guide examined by J. S. Taylor in South Africa contained 

 wasps, bees, ants, flies, cicadas, beetles, grasshoppers, and butterflies. 

 Another chick, collected by Benson in Nyasaland from a nest of 

 Dicrocercus hirundineus, had its gizzard full of insect remains, among 

 which E. A. Chapin was able to identify 2 grasshoppers, 3 cetoniine 

 scarabs, 2 moths, 1 cicada, 1 asilid fly, 6 other flies, 2 Zygoptera, 12 

 bees (Apis mellifera), 1 anthophorine aphid, 1 eumenme wasp, and 

 3 polys tine wasps. The floor of the nest contained wings of two 

 kinds of butterflies {Papilio sp., 1 wing; Catopsilia florella, several 

 wings), the bodies of which had evidently been eaten by the young 

 bird. 



There seem to be no other available data, but these indicate clearly 

 that the young parasite receives the same sort of food that its fosterers 

 would give their own young — a variety of insects and grubs. 



In view of the important role played by wax in the diet of the adult 

 birds, it is worth pointing out that, as far as we know, no honey-guide 

 gets any beeswax until after it has left its foster parents; in other 

 words, until it is practically full grown. 



