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CHAPTER IX 



BIKD-PAKASITES 



There are but two groups or families of true parasitic 

 birds in South Africa, viz. the Cuckoos and the Honey- 

 guides. Several of our birds utilise the nests of other 

 members of the Avian class, but as they do not leave their 

 eggs to be incubated by the original or rightful owner, per- 

 forming this duty themselves, they cannot with justice 

 be included under the heading of " Bird-Parasites." 



HONEY GUIDES 



The Honey-guides (family Indicatoridce) are a small 

 family of interesting birds, chiefly remarkable for their 

 habit of guiding man and animals to the nests of bees. 

 Their structure, resembling that of the cuckoos in some 

 respects, but more closely according with that of the Barbets, 

 has occasioned some considerable diversity of opinion as to 

 their classificatory position. Originally placed with the 

 cuckoos, they were subsequently elevated to the rank of a 

 separate family. They were also placed in the Barbet 

 family by some authors, a position favoured — amongst others 

 — by F. E. Beddard, F.B.S., the Prosector of the London 

 Zoological Society, who includes them in the Capitonidae 

 in his excellent work : " The Structure and Classification of 

 Birds." 



They resemble the Cuckoos in the arrangement of the 



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