HONEY-GUIDE 



429 



no brilliant colour appears, and those of several genera have no 

 special ornamentation, while some have a particularly plain appear- 

 ance. One of the most curious forms is Frosthernadera— the Tui or 

 Parson-bird of New Zealand. The Bell-bird of the same country 

 (supra, p. 31), Aidhornis melanura, is another member of this 

 Family, and unfortunately seems to be fast becoming extinct, a fate 



Anthornis. 

 (From Buller.) 



Melithrepths validirostris. 

 (After Swainson.) 



^ / ^ cAA,^^ 



that is said to have already befallen the Stitch-bird, Pogonornis, 

 of the same country. But it would be impossil)le here to enter 

 much further into detail, though the Wattle-birds, Anthochxra, of 

 Australia have at least to be named, and the Friar-birds, Philemon, 

 already mentioned {supm, pp. 292, 293), must again be noticed / ^^^^, 

 (Mimicry). Melithrcpt^s, with 5 or 6 species, all but one peculiar ^ / 



to Australia or Tasmania, considered by some writers to be allied 

 to Zosterops, probably belongs here. 



HONEY-GUIDE, a bird so called from its habit or supposed 

 habit of pointing out to man and to the ratel {Mellivora capensis) 

 the nests of bees. Stories to this effect have often been told, and 

 may be found in the narratives of many African travellers, from 

 Bruce to Livingstone. Yet Mr. Layard says (B. S. Africa, p. 2-i2) 

 that the birds will not unfrequently lead any one to a leopard or a 

 snake, and will follow a dog with vociferations,^ so that at present 

 judgment may perhaps be suspended on the matter, though its 

 antics and noisy cry unquestionably have in many cases the effect 

 signified Ijy its English name. If not its first discoverer, Sparrman, 

 in 1777, was the first Avho described and figured this bird, which 

 he met with in the Cape Colony (Phil. Trans. Ixvii. pp. 42-47, pi. 

 i.), giving it the name of Ciiculns indicator, its feet with the toes 

 placed in pairs — two before and two behind — inducing the lielief 

 that it must be referred to that genus. Vieillot in 1816 elevated 

 it to the rank of a genus, Indicator ; but it was still considered to 

 belong to the Family Cuculidie (its asserted parasitical habits lending 

 force to that belief) by all systematists except Blyth and Jerdon, 

 until it was shewn by Mr. Blanford (Obs. Geol. and Zool. Abyssinia, 



1 This is also a well-known habit with some C'orvidse — the Jays and Pies for 

 example. 



