THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



SOUTH AFRICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' DNION. 



SECOND SERIES. 



^^j J JUNE 1907. No. 1. 



I. — A Contribution to our Knowledge of the Indicatoridfe 

 {Honey- Guides). By Alwin K. Haagner, F.Z.S., 

 M.B.O.U., and Robert H. Ivy. 



(Plates I. & II.) 



I. G-ENERAL Remarks. 



Dr. Brehm in his * Tierleben ' (Vogel, Band i.), following 

 Fiirbringer^ places the Indicatoridse in a separate family by 

 themselves. Mr. W. L. Sclater, M.A., followed this classifi- 

 cation in his work on the Birds in his ' Fauna of South 

 Africa' series. Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., &c., on the 

 other hand, like Gradow, has included them under the familv 

 Capitonidse in his valuable ' Structure and Classification of 

 Birds.' We are more inclined to fall in line with the first 

 mentioned authors as regards the classificatory position of 

 the Honey-Guides. They have only nine primaries, with the 

 first one almost as long as the second, as against ten in the 

 Capitonidse, the first of which is short. The members of 

 the Indicatoridae possess twelve rectrices, with the exception 

 of the genus Prodotiscus, which only has ten. In their 

 parasitic habit of depositing their eggs in the nests of other 

 birds (now proved beyond a doubt, at least so far as the 

 South African species are concerned) they closely resemble 

 the Cuculidse, in which family Nitzsch placed them. The 

 ser. II. — VOL. I. 1 



