452 CORACIIFORMES : CHAP. 
like bill with ridged and laterally swollen maxilla, while that of 
Prodotiscus is more slender and pointed. Moreover, the metatarsi 
are short; the nostrils possess a narrow membrane and are not 
bristly ; and the rectrices number twelve, save in the last-named 
genus, Which has ten. The curiously interrupted range includes 
the whole Ethiopian Region, except Madagascar ; the Himalayas ; 
and the Malayan and Bornean mountains. The sexes are gene- 
rally similar, while almost all the forms, which hardly exceed a 
Lark in size, are chiefly dull brown, with a yellow wash, and 
some white on the rump, tail, or wings. 
Indicator xanthonotus of the Himalayas is blackish above, 
with golden forehead and orange rump-region, and greyish 
below; the latter colour merging into yellow on the throat and 
black on the abdomen. JL. archipelagicus of the Malay Peninsula 
and Borneo, and J. sparrmani of Tropical Africa, except the 
western forests, exhibit a yellow shoulder-patch ; while the males 
of the latter and of ZL major of the same districts have black 
throats, which are whitish and yellow in the respective females. 
I. minor, and the remaining Ethiopian species, differ from the last 
two forms in having no white on the lower back.  Prodotiscus 
regulus of Natal, and P. insignis, ranging from the Gaboon to 
East Equatorial Africa, are particularly dull. 
Circumstantial accounts of eye-witnesses so clearly shew that 
bees’ nests are found through the instrumentality of these birds, 
that their intention can hardly be doubted, and it has been said 
that not only man but the ratel (JMellivora capensis) is con- 
ducted; the object of attraction, however, occasionally turns out 
to be a leopard, cat, snake, or dog. Honey-guides call attention 
by a shrill cry or hiss, and will even fly in the face of a 
traveller, as if enraged at not being followed; they eat bees, 
erubs, and honey, and are asserted to lay white eggs in the nests 
of Barbets and the like.’ Sir John Kirk writes” of the habits of 
Indicator minor—“The Honey-guide is found in forests, and 
often far from water, even during the dry season. On observing 
a man it comes fluttering from branch to branch in the neigh- 
bouring trees, calling attention. If this be responded to, as the 
natives do by whistling and starting to their feet, the bird will 
! Layard, ed. Sharpe, Birds of South Africa, 1875-84, pp. 166-171. Cf. Sandeman, 
Hight Months in an Ox- Waggon, 1880, pp. 235-239. [Extract, Zbis, 1880, p. 286.] 
2 Ibis, 1864, pp. 327-328. 
