THE HONEY-GUIDES 263 



mass may have been is unknown, but the fact that the bird was still 

 attended by its foster parents would seem to preclude the possibility 

 of its being wax, as the yellow-throated sparrow does not normally 

 eat wax in any quantity, as far as known. 



Miscellaneous Behavior 



The flight of this honey-guide is decidedly undulatmg, with some- 

 what irregular timing to the wing beats, which are not in rapid succes- 

 sion but a few beats followed by a short dipping glide. The tail is 

 usually kept widely spread during flight, the white on the outer 

 rectrices being a conspicuous field mark. 



I have never seen this bird "mobbed" by other birds as some of the 

 forms of Indicator are occasionally. However, Beven (1946, p. 67) 

 saw one chased several times by a sunbird (Chalcometra senegalensis) , 

 and in Kenya Colony Williams saw one pursued by a pair of rock 

 sparrows (Petronia superciliaris) . The honey-guide erected its 

 fluffy white flank feathers, which seemed to excite the sparrows. 



The head bobbing mannerism of this bird is quite pronounced, and 

 often helps the observer to distinguish it from Alseonax in the field. 

 Skead (1951, p. 62) describes this bobbing as a "sort of circular rolling 

 of the head, as though some constricting force around the neck were 

 causing the bird to ease the discomfort by moving its head all the 

 time." The Bensons (1948, p. 392) emphasize the fact that this 

 bobbing is lateral, not vertical, and suggest that in P. insignis the 

 motion is vertical rather than lateral. 



Description 



Adult (sexes alike in coloration) : Forehead, lores, cheeks, auricu- 

 lars, crown, occiput, nape, and entu-e upperparts of body and wings 

 dark hair-brown to chaetura drab, the scapulars and upper wing- 

 coverts edged and tipped (in fresh plumage) with pale hair-brown; 

 the secondaries externally edged with pale hair-brown, mternally with 

 drab gray; two median pairs of rectrices dark hair-brown to chaetura 

 drab, the outer ones white with very broad tips of dark haii'-brown, 

 these dark areas continuing about one-third to one-half way down 

 the edges of the feathers; chin and throat pale to very pale smoke 

 gray to almost white; breast, sides, and lower flanks light grayish 

 drab to drab, palest medially; abdomen white, more or less washed 

 with buffy grayish; under tail-coverts white; on the upper part of 

 the flanks a patch of long silky white feathers; under wing-coverts 

 and axillars white; iris dark grayish bro^vn; bill very dark gray to 

 almost black ; tarsi and toes pale gray to dark blackish gray. Measure- 



309265—55 19 



