THE HONEY-GUIDES 237 



Lyre-Tailed Honey-Guide 



Melichneutes robustus (Bates) ®^ 



Figures 1, 2,g, S,g, 6; Plates 19, 23 



DISTRIBUTIO^' 



This, perhaps the most peculiar of all the members of the family, is 

 a very imperfectly known bird of the primeval rain-forests of tropical 

 West Africa, from the Niger Delta (near Port Harcourt and Umuagwu, 

 near Owerri), Cameroons (Bitye, Efulan, Lolodorf, Sangmalima, 

 Minkang, Yaunde, and Dume), northern Gaboon (Oyem), and the 

 Congo forest (Medje, Yangambi north of Stanleyville, Ibembo, Buta, 

 Kitenge, Pawa, and Avakubi) east to the Semliki Valley (Tungudu, 

 Mushinene) and to extreme western Uganda (Bwamba forest) ,®® 

 south to Kasese, west of Lake Kivu, to the Kasai (Lusambo), and to 

 northwestern Angola (presumably west of the middle Cuanza River). 

 In the course of his ver}^ prolonged field work in the Belgian Congo, 

 Chapin obtained but a single example. However, after learning the 

 identification of the distinctive call of the species, he realized that he 

 had heard it many times during several years at Medje, Pawa, and 

 Avakubi. Chapin (1939, p. 555) suggests, therefore, that the bird is 

 probably fairly common but is extremely difficult to observe and 

 collect. The species is, of course, nonmigratory, and has been heard 

 calling in Gaboon in all months except May and in the Congo forest 

 in all except April and May. 



GUIDIKG 



There is no evidence of any guiding habit in this species, certainly 

 not as far as hmnans are concerned. It is true that some years ago 

 Chapm (1924, pp. 334-336) suspected that the curious note given by 

 the bii'd may summon some mammalian or avian accomplice to aid 

 it in robbing bees' nests, but this is still an unsupported suggestion. 

 It may be noted, as nothing more than a thought, that Rougeot (1950, 

 p. 63) found a peculiar and as yet unexplained attraction the large 

 hornbills have for the parts of the forest frequented by the lyre- 

 taUed honey-guide. He asks if this is merely a coincidence or whether 

 the hornbills may profit, together with other aboreal creatures, from 

 the indications of bees' nests furnished by the honey-guides. As far 



w Melignomon robustus Bates, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, vol. 25, p. 26, 1909. 

 (Bitye, River Ja, Cameroons.) 



°' The occurrence of this honey-guide in the Bwamba forest is based solely on 

 the fact that its distinctive notes have been heard there. It has not been seen or 

 collected there. 



