190 BULLETIN 208, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Nothing is known of the number of eggs laid in one season by one 

 female, of any individual specificity in hosts, or of the interval be- 

 tween eggs. The ovary of a trapped female that laid an egg just 

 before dying, showed, on microscopical examination, one discharged 

 follicle and five ova considerably enlarged. The largest of these was 

 not more than half the size it should be for an egg ready for deposition 

 of the albuminous layers, the next largest one was about half as large, 

 and the others were much smaller. As far as such evidence may be 

 used, the indications are that at least six eggs would have been laid, 

 and that the interval between the one just laid and the next one would 

 probably have been two days. 



The eggs usually are laid in the nests of hole-nesting birds, as 

 shown by the host records discussed further on in this report. As a 

 rule only one egg is deposited in any one nest, but in at least one case 

 two eggs were found in the same nest together with some of the host's 

 eggs, as mentioned in the discussion of Tricholaema leucomelan, the 

 pied barbet. In this instance it is not possible to say whether the 

 two eggs were laid by the same hen or if two honey-guides laid in the 

 same nest. The two eggs were similar enough m size (20 by 16.6 and 

 20 by 15.6 mm.) to have been the product of a single hen. Aside from 

 the fact that the barbet's eggs are somewhat different in size from 

 those of the honey-guide, there is a noticeable difference in the color 

 of the eggs when freshly laid due to the fact that the yolk of Indicator 

 minor is pale yeUow whereas that of the barbet is very reddish. 



When the honey-guide is ready to lay it seems quite indifferent to 

 the attacks and protestations of the intended victims. If driven 

 away, it persistenly returns mitU it finds an opportunity to get into 

 the nest hole, which it then does promptly. Judging by the number of 

 times people have seen honey-guides trying to get into these nests, 

 especially of barbets of several species, it would seem that egg laying 

 (if most of these attempts are preliminary to Q^g deposition) is not 

 restricted to the very early morning hours as in so many other birds. 

 It may also be due, in part at least, to the fact that usually one of 

 the pair of barbets remains on guard in or near the nest when the 

 other is away, making it difficult for the parasite always to be finished 

 laying as early as might otherwise be the case. (For accounts of such 

 attempts at entry, see under the various host species.) 



It is puzzhng to try to explain the persistence with which lesser 

 honey-guides keep trying to enter or, at least, look into nest holes of 

 the birds they victimize. They do so more frequently (or, to be more 

 accurate, they have been seen doing so more frequently) than the 

 greater honey-guide, /. indicator. They have been known to "visit" 

 barbet's nests containing well incubated eggs and even chicks, none 

 of which were honey-guides — in other words, nests in which they had 



