424 ^Tr. B. Alexander — An Oniitholoyical 



(41) Little Tern ( .SYf /-Hrt vnuuta). 



(42) GiiU-billed Tern (Sterna annlicu). 



(43) Yellow-legged Ilerring-Gull (Lanis cachinnatis). 



(44) (ireat Crested Grebe (Podiccps cridatus) 



N.B. — I did not personally find the nest of a Great Bustard, but the 

 fresli e<.'g of one of these birds was brouoht to me during my visit to 

 Appa; it liaci been taken from a cornfield in tlie plain near the station. 



XXIV. — All Ornithological Expedition to the Zambesi River. 

 By Boyd Alexander, F.Z.S. 



[Conc-luded from p. 109.] 



165. Indicator sparrmani Stepli. 



This Honey-guide was first met with near Zumho, and 



became more plentiful further up the river, especially 



in well-wooded districts, where we observed it in small 



parties that kept much to the tops of high trees. In 



December they were in a moulting condition. The natives 



disapproved very much of our shooting these birds, which, 



they said, often enabled them to find the nests of bees. 



There appears to be some truth in this, when the following 



incident is considered. On October 7 w^e landed on a small 



well-wooded island, which we commenced to explore. On 



the ground, under a thicket, one of these Honey-guides was 



observed busily but silently searching after food. We shot 



the bird, not knowing, however, what it was at the time, and 



as the thicket was almost impenetrable we sent in one of our 



native boys to get the specimen. Meanwhile we had left the 



spot and were continuing our investigation of the small 



island, but on looking back a short time afterwards we 



found that our boys were not following us. Eventually, on 



retracing our steps, we discovered them on their hands and 



knees about twenty paces from the place where we had shot 



the Indicator. A fire had been lighted, while one of them 



was busy with his axe unearthing something from the ground. 



This proved to be a big bees'-nest. Our boys made short 



work of the black-looking honey, large pieces with grubs 



