Mr. T. Ayres on the Ornithology of Transvaal. 297 



pink ; tarsi and feet dusky brown. Stomach full of bees, wax, 

 and comb. 



Female_, Rustenburg, July. Irides light dusky brown ; bill 

 dusky horn-colour ; tarsi and feet dusky. 



I only saw three birds of this species whilst at E-usten- 

 burg, all solitary, and sitting silently on trees. 



[As pointed out in Sharpe's edition of Layard, p. 167, the 

 the female of this species '' wants the black throat of the 

 male/^ from which it also differs in the yellow shoulder-patch, 

 the brown stripes on the flanks, the pale edgings to the wing- 

 coverts, and the whitish ear-coverts being all much less con- 

 spicuous, and in the bill being of a diff'ercnt colour, as noted 

 above, and somewhat shorter, the latter peculiarity resembling 

 that which is observable in the females of many of the Larks. 



These difl'erences of colouring, Avhich I have noted from 

 the female bird sent hy Mr. Ayres, agree pretty well with the 

 observations of Heuglin on the same subject, quoted in 

 Sharper's paper on the Indicatoridse in Rowley^s ' Ornitho- 

 logical Miscellany,' vol. i. p. 202.— J. H. G.] 



322. Indicator major, Steph, White-rumped Honey- 

 Guide. 



The specimen sent was a solitary one, and the bird is by 

 no means plentiful about Rustenburg. The farmers much 

 dislike having any of the Honey-Guides shot, as their lads 

 frequently follow the birds to a bees' nest. 



Chrysococcyx cupreus (Bodd.). Didric Cuckoo. 



Male, Potchefstroom, February 14th. Irides dull red, 

 eyelids dusky, almost black ; bill dusky, but the under man- 

 dible palish ; tarsi and feet dusky. 



This bird flew out from amongst the grapevines in my 

 garden, and settled in a thick fig-tree hedge, where I shot it 

 nearly to bits, being very close. The bird had either a grape 

 or an egg in its bill when I fired ; but though I looked care- 

 fully about I could not find either. In the stomach was an 

 e^^ partly digested, which I take to be that of Passer arcu- 

 atus ; but I was not aware that the Cuckoos eat the eggs from 

 the birds' nests they are accustomed to lay in. 



SER. IV. VOL. III. z 



