WOODPECKERS. 423 



sidered our extreme stupidity, and flapped its little wiugs and redoubled the shrill 

 cries which it had ceased to utter while leading us to the spot. At last, losing all 

 patience, it actually settletl on a piece of the .stem of one of the trees it hail been 

 persistently Hitting backwards and forwards in front of. The boys, now paying more 

 attention to this particular tree, perceived jnst above where the bird had j)erched a 

 small hole, and round it a kind of cement. Wiiile we were watching, ;i bee flew out, 

 which made it certain that the nest was within the trunk. The driver of Woodward's 

 wagon, who was an old hand at the work, at once climbed up the tree with a hatchet, 

 and under his direction the oihers collected armfuls of dried grass. Taking a large 

 handful of this, he lighted it, and then struck witli the hatchet at the mouth of the 

 narrow hole. At the first blow a quantity of mud, wax, and decayed wood fell to the 

 ground, with which the bees had skilfully walled up a large portion of the decayed 

 wood. Out swarmed a cloud of bees, and now his burning grass came into o])eration. 

 As quickly as they flew out their wings were singed in the flames, .and they dro])i)ed 

 helpless to the ground. A. and myself had retreated to a safe distance from the tree ; 

 but the boys stood close up, hardly caring if they wei-e stung or not. In a very few 

 minutes, all the occupants of the nest were destroyed ; but new comers were con- 

 stantly arriving, which made close quarters anything but pleasant. Xot much cutting 

 was necessary to lay bare a large portion of the combs, which were laid horizontally 

 across the entire width of the hollow portion of ihe tree. 



"Before leaving we carefully fixed a comb filled with honey on the nearest bush, 

 and our late guide flew down and commenced his weJl-earned repast as soon as we 

 had turned our backs on the spot. The Kafirs would much ))refer not to take any 

 honey at all, than deiiart with their spoil and not leave a portion for the bird. Tliey 

 firmly believe that if they thus defraud the bird of its just rights, it will follow them 

 up, and at a future time, instead of leading them to honey, will entice them into the 

 lair of a lion, or to a nest in which some deadly snake lies concealed." 



The honey-guides lay white eggs, and it is stated, of some of the species at least, 

 that they arc parasitic, like the cuckoos. 



" Considering the method adopted by the woodpeckers for obtaining their food, it 

 is hardly surprising that they possess cranial features peculiar to themselves; for it 

 is scarcely conceivable that the head, the most delicately constructed portion of the 

 body, should be employed as a powerful hammer or axe, whose strokes can be heard 

 at a considerable distance, without some modifications in structure which would assist 

 in increasing its efKcacy for the pur])Ose." 



To these words of Professor Garrod, as an introduction to the family Picid.e, we 

 wish to append certain statements of Professor W. K. Parker, the result of his stmlies 

 cf the embryological develoj)ment of the 'saurognathous' palate. Huxley had already 

 characterized the palate of the woodpeckers, or Celeomorphie, according to his 

 nomenclature, as "exhibiting rather a detrradation and sinijilification of the a'githo- 

 gnathous structure." This Professor Parker corrobor.ates from an embryological 

 st.indpoint, saying: "The view there expressed, that these binls have a p.asserine 

 fouudation. but that they are somewhat abortively developed, arrested one w.ay and 

 wonderfully specialized in another, will be seen to be the exact truth of tlie matter. 

 The fact is, tliey are like early embrj-os of the P.asserina?, in their palatal region 

 arrested at a most simple and lacertion stage, whilst in other res]iecfs they are meta- 

 niorjihosed and specialized beyond any other kind of birds." 



The above quotations supplement each otlur in a manner which affords us the 



