214 BULLETIN 208, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



bii'd giving its song-call from a call site occasionally would fly out after 

 a passing insect and then return to its perch. In their feeding flights 

 these honey-guides dart about on erratic courses precisely like fly- 

 catchers, and rest for only very brief intervals between these sallies. 

 That this feeding habit is not peculiar to South Africa is attested by 

 the fact that, in northern Tanganyika Territory, Williams collected a 

 male which, when first seen, was flying about like a flycatcher, catching 

 May flies which were coming up in swarms from the river below. It 

 had May flies in its mouth when shot. 



Recently Irwin (1953, p. 41) watched some of these honey-guides 

 feeding in Mashonaland, and noted that a "great part of their activity 

 was concentrated on minutely searching the lichen-covered branches; 

 they were very dexterous in clinging to the vertical branches and even 

 clinging upside down, . . . On several occasions one would dart out 

 and snap up a flying insect like a flycatcher." This interest in lichen- 

 covered branches is of interest in view of the fact that the species of 

 thin-billed honey-guides (genus Prodotiscus) feed largely on scale 

 insects, which often are found in such situations. 



Several observers have written that the lesser honey-guide often 

 perches near a beehive and catches the bees as they go by. Atmore 

 (in Layard, 1875-1884, pp. 169-171) tells of seeing one of these birds 

 at a beehive "as busy as possible catching bees. After watching 

 him for some time, Tom shot him, and his gizzard was full of bees' 

 legs, with the wax on them." 



Pringle (in litt.) informs me that at Bedford, Cape Province, he has 

 seen I. minor at the entrance of a hive picking up bees (that have died, 

 perhaps) , and has also seen it catching live bees as they leave the hive. 

 Not very far awaj^-, at "Gameston," near Grahamstown, Skead (1951, 

 pp. 55-56) made the following notes: 



The occasional visitors to the garden always flew to the bee-hives, settled at 

 the entrance for a moment or two and then flew away. At the time the two 

 birds were together, there were several honeycombs protruding from the hives. 

 These were empty except for a few well-developed grubs in some of the cells. I 

 removed a few of the combs and tied them to the branches of a tree where I could 

 observe the birds' actions more easily. At first both approached the combs 

 with the utmost caution, fluttering "nervously" above them or springing up in 

 fright on touching them. However, they soon gained confidence and fed hungrily. 

 One bird began eating at 2:58 p. m. and fed unceasingly until 3:22 p. m. (24 

 minutes). It then flew to another tree but three minutes later returned to its 

 comb and fed for another 20 minutes, making a total feeding period of 44 minutes. 

 The other bird fed at its comb for only 10 minutes. They ate pure wax, which 

 they * 'nibbled" from the edges of the combs, and ignored the grubs in the cells. 

 A day or two later I noticed that the grubs had disappeared but these may have 

 been taken by other birds, perhaps Fork-tailed Drongos, Bhuchanga adsimilis. 

 Although dead bees always lay scattered near the hives I saw nothing to indicate 

 that the honeyguides fed on them. The numbers of dead bees never seemed to 



