THE HONEY-GUIDES 215 



diminish when the birds were about; nor did I ever see the honeyguides hawking 

 live bees near the hives. 



After a few days' feeding at the combs, the birds, normally timid, became much 

 bolder and often entered an old box lying near the house steps, which contained 

 the remains of wax from another hive. They also came to the bird-bath to drink 

 but I never saw them bathe. 



As discussed under the section on cerophagy, this species is a regular 

 wax-eater, and it was on two individuals of this species that Ranger 

 made his experiments showing that the birds are able to digest and 

 assimilate beeswax. All that need be repeated here is that the two 

 birds were kept in captivity on a diet of nothing but clean, empty, 

 dried wild bee comb and water. One of them lived for 25 days, the 

 other a week longer. The latter bird was quite emaciated at the time 

 of death, the former not noticably so. It is not surprising that wax 

 alone is not a sufficient diet as the birds normally consume quantities 

 of insects as well, but the fact that they were able to survive so long 

 on a diet so largely of wax (plus impurities) indicates that this sub- 

 stance is a source of nourishment and that the birds can make use of it. 



I once put a piece of bee comb containing some larvae and honey 

 in a branch of a favorite call site of a lesser honey-guide, but although 

 I watched at close range from a blind for several hours on each of three 

 days I never saw the bird come to it. It may have been frightened 

 away from it as the blind was not entirely closed and the bird may have 

 been aware of my presence. However, on coming to the tree each 

 morning I examined the comb and found evidence of some nibbling, 

 but I cannot say that this was done by the honey-guide. The greater 

 honey-guide, in contrast, nibbled at a similar piece of comb placed in 

 its call tree while I remained, unconcealed, only 25 feet away. 



At King WiUiam's Town, Cape Province, Skead and I once watched 

 a lesser honey-guide which was working its way about in a berry- 

 bearing bush (Scutia myrtina, locally known in Afrikaans as "droog- 

 my-keel") apparently looking for food, gleaning one branch after the 

 other. This bird was not actually seen to swallow a berry, but it 

 gave the impression of feeding in the bush, probably on insects. Skead 

 informs me that the berries of this plant are a favorite food of several 

 species of barbets. 



A remarkable statement is made by Atmore (in Layard, loc. cit., 

 p. 170): "I can tell you that /. minor kills and eats small birds as 

 savagely as Lanius collaris! The very first I shot was in the act of 

 eating a sparrow that I saw him kill in flight." The Woodwards (1899, 

 p. 168) state that the lesser honey-guide is a very pugnacious bird 

 and that they have "often seen it hunting the other small birds." 

 That it is pugnacious is further attested by Ranger, who informs me 

 that he has known it to drive off shrikes and other birds larger than 

 itself. In Ethiopia, Blanford (1870, p. 307) saw one pursuing and 



