KNYSNA 125 



creatures are, or the alteration in her voice would take 

 place." 



The Ibis for October, 1900, publishes the following- 

 letter on the subject from Mr. W. T. Barneby : — 



" Sirs, — As I understand that some doubts are still 

 expressed as to the truth of the extraordinary instinct 

 attributed to the Honey-guide of attracting natives and . 

 travellers to bees' nests, I beg leave to offer you the 

 following account of my own experience in this matter: — - 



" In October and November, 1898, I was on a 

 hunting expedition, in the province of Mozambique in 

 Portuouese East Africa. Starting!- from a station on 

 the Beira railway, I explored the country to the North 

 of the Pungwee River for about sixty miles, accom- 

 panied by some twenty native carriers. 



" One day my boys brought me some honey to eat, 

 and when I asked them how they had obtained it, 

 they replied that the Honey-bird had guided them to 

 the nest. Having heard the story of the Honey-guide 

 before I was much interested, and desired the boys, 

 when they found the Honey-bird calling to them again, 

 to be sure and let me know, as I wished to see the 

 bird and its method of attracting attention. A few 

 days later, on returning to camp, I found some of my 

 boys absent, and was told they were engaged in taking 

 a bees' nest. On proceeding' to the spot, which was 

 not far distant, I found the boys engaged in chopping- 

 out a bees' nest, to which they told me the Honey-bird 

 had led them. I observed them leave a small portion 

 of the comb on a branch near the nest, for the use, as 

 they said, of the Honey-bird, but 1 did not on this 

 occasion actually see the bird myself. 



