192 BULLETIN 2 08, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



That the parasite does not always "tune" its laying too well is 

 indicated by a case reported to me by Mr. Robin Guy. Near Pieter- 

 maritzburg, Natal, in November 1945 he found a nest of a black- 

 collared barbet containing 4 eggs of the host and 1 of the honey-guide. 

 On blowing the eggs he found that the barbet eggs were in an advanced 

 stage of incubation while the honey-guide egg was fresh. 



The incubation period needs further study. It has been estimated 

 by Skead (1951, pp. 53-55) as about 16^ days (in a nest of Lyhius 

 torguatus): but more recently Ranger found it to be not more than 12 

 days, and possibly only 11 (in a nest of the same host species) — at least 

 it was determined to have begun and ended within a period of 12 days. 



Hosts ob Victims 



The known victims of the lesser honey-guide number 21 species, or, 

 including races, 28 forms of birds. With the single exception of one 

 record of a swallow, all the hosts are hole-nesting birds, and the 

 swallow in question makes a cup-shaped nest under a ledge or roof, so 

 it is, if not a hole-nester, at least a nester in dark places. The majority 

 of the victims are barbets (9 species, or 16 species and subspecies). 

 Out of a total of something over 50 definite records of nests containing 

 eggs or chicks of Indicator minor, 35 are barbets' nests; and there are 

 15 or 20 more indefinite records of barbet hosts in my files. Of the 

 definite records, two records have to do with one species of bee-eater, 

 two with a kingfisher, five with five forms of woodpeckers (only one 

 instance for each of these birds), three of tits, and single instances are 

 at hand of parasitism of single species of swallows, starlings, and 

 weaver finches. As in the case of the greater honey-guide, the list of 

 hosts is bound to be increased as more field data become available. 

 From vast areas of Africa inhabited by the lesser honey-guide, in its 

 various races, there are as yet no host records at all. Although it is, 

 therefore, impossible to say which species in general are most fre- 

 quently chosen by the parasite, it does seem that the barbets, as a 

 group, are the favorite hosts. At present the black-collared barbet, 

 Lyhius torguatus (and races), is easily the victim most frequently 

 recorded, with 15 actual instances and at least as many more indefinite 

 ones, 



Melittophagus pusillus meridionalis Sharpe. Lesser bee-eater. 



Alelittophagus meridionalis Sharpe, Catalogue of the birds in the British 

 Museum, vol. 17, pp. 44 (in key), 45, pi. 1, fig. 4, 1892. ("Southeastern 

 Africa from Natal to the Zambesi, and thence to the Zanzibar district on the 

 east coast and to Angola and the Lower Congo on the west"; restricted type 

 locality: Pinetown, Natal.) 



In the Carlisle collection in the National Museum of Southern 

 Rhodesia are six sets of eggs of this bee-eater, all from Strathmore, 



