THE HONEY-GUIDES 255 



In Nyasaland, Benson once saw one of these honey-guides being 

 chased about several times by a male sunbird, Cinnyris chalybeus, a 

 species that was nesting locally at the time. Whether the Prodotiscus 

 had ventured too near to a nest is, of course, not known. 



Description 



Prodotiscus insignis insignis 



Adult (sexes alike in coloration): Forehead, lores, crown, and occi- 

 put olive brown, slightly tinged with olive; upperparts of body and 

 wings similar but more intensely tinged with yellowish olive to ecru 

 olive, this wash being brightest and most pronounced on the lower 

 back and median part of the rump, the lateral parts of the rump and 

 the flanks with longer, silky white feathers; upper wing-coverts and 

 remiges olive brown edged with yellowish olive, the primaries more 

 narrowly edged with olive externally than the secondaries, all the 

 remiges internally incompletely edged with whitish; upper tail- 

 coverts olive brown edged and washed with yellowish olive, the 

 shortest ones tipped with olive ocher, the longest ones almost wholly 

 olive brown; median two pairs of rectrices dark olive brown; lateral 

 three pairs wholly white; chin and tliroat ashy pale buff, the breast 

 and sides slightly darker- — ashy pale light drab, abdomen becoming 

 more ashy, less brownish, and becoming paler, more whitish pos- 

 teriorly; under tail-coverts white with a very faint tinge of pale drab 

 or pale buffy gray; under wing-coverts pale, whitish tinged with 

 olive drab; iris dark brown; bill blackish with a little pale gi'eenish 

 yellow at the corners of the mouth; tarsi and toes dusky greenish 

 slate to dark gray. ^Measurements in millimeters: males: wing 62-65, 

 tail 40-44, culmen from base 8-9, tarsus 12; female: wing 61, tail 

 39-42, culmen from base 8, tarsus 11-12. 



Juvenal (sexes probably alike) : Similar to the adult but generally 

 duskier above, the greenish wash and margins of the feathers less 

 pronounced. 



Natal down: Not known, if any. 



The plumage differs in the other subspecies as follows. 



Prodotiscus insignis fiavodorsalis : Brighter in color, the entire upper 

 surface washed with golden, and the feathers of the rump with particu- 

 larly bright yellow tips. Measurements in millimeters: male: wing 

 67, tail 42, culmen 8, tarsus 12.5; female: wing 64, tail 44, culmen 8, 

 tarsus 12.5. 



P. i. ellenbecki: Larger, and paler and grayer on the breast, with the 

 under tail-coverts purer white. Measurements in millimeters: male: 

 wing 69-73, tail 53, culmen 10, tarsus 11-12; female: wing 68, tail 47, 

 culmen 9, tarsus 11. Weight: male 16.5 grams, female 12.1, 12.3 grams, 



