2 Messrs. A. K. Haagner and R. H. Ivy — Contrilxition to 



latter further says of the Cuculina3 * that the members have 

 no definite pterylographic character, the only constant one 

 common to the group being " the nakedness of the tip of the 

 oil-gland, which is not furnished with a circlet of feathers." 

 Although !Nitzsch writes thus of the Cuculinse {in which he 

 includes the genus Indicator') he makes a diametrically opposite 

 statement in his paragraph on Prodotes [Indicator, auctt.), 

 in which he says " oil-gland with a small circlet of feathers 

 at the tip, the quills of which extend to the walls of the 

 apex." 



The Capitonidas, so far as we are aware, are not parasitic 

 in their nidificatory habits, so taking all points into con- 

 sideration it would appear both more correct and more 

 convenient to place the Indicators in a family by themselves. 

 There are, moreover, certain marked points in the anatomy 

 of the nestling Indicator which do not occur, so far as we 

 can ascertain, in the nestlings of either the Cuculidye or 

 Capitonidse — or perhaps, indeed, in any living bird, — differ- 

 ences which in themselves should be sufficient to relegate the 

 Honey-Guides to a family of their own. 



II. Exterior Anatomy. 



A. Physiology. — The main points worthy of note are those 

 occurring on the head of the nestling : — 



The extremity of the beak is furnished w ith a pair of hooks, 

 which are hard, strong, and very sharp. These peculiar 

 appendages, which remind one of the reptile-like toothed 

 birds of the Jurassic and Cretaceous days long gone, such as 

 Archceopteryx macrura from the Middle Oolites, are very curious 

 as far as bird anatomy is concerned, and one is led to wonder 

 at the reason of their presence on the nestling Indicator. 

 We can only conjecture that they are of use to the bird when 

 ejecting the young of the rightful owners of the nest, as the 

 nestling would, by means of these hooks, have a perfectly 



* We are quoting from the English translation edited by Dr. P. L. 

 Sclater, F.R.S., and published by the Ray Societ}^, not having had access 

 to a copy in the original. 



