the Systematic Position 0/ rndicator. 177 



"The affinities of this genus I have long considered to be 

 with the Woodpeckers and not with the Cuckoos ; their feet are 

 formed exactly as in the former gx'oup, not as in the latter; and 

 they are accordingly known to climb the boles of trees, in the 

 cavities of which they deposit numerous shining white eggs, 

 wherein also they resemble the Woodpeckers. I am unacquainted 

 with the conformation of their soft parts, further tb.an that the 

 traveller Bruce informs us, of his 'Bee Cuckoo^ (A^ppendix to 

 'Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile,^ v. 179), that the 

 tongue is sharp-pointed, can be drawn to almost half its length 

 out of the mouth beyond the point of the beak, and is very 

 flexible, — a statement which I did not remark until long after I 

 had arrived at the opinion here expressed. If my view be 

 correct, it will probably be further confirmed by the stomach 

 j)roving to have its muscular coat considei-ably more developed 

 than in the Cuckoos ; by the absence of cseca, as in the Wood- 

 peckers (normally), these existing in all the Cuckoo tribe which 

 I have examined ; and by the sternal apparatus, the form of 

 which is very different in the Woodpeckers and Wryneck from 

 what it is in the Cuckoos. The Barbets (Buccu) are quite 

 distinct from either, and more nearly allied in internal confor- 

 mation to the South-American group of Toucans [Ramp has tida) , 

 which they even resemble in the peculiar character of having 

 short imperfect clavicles."— J. A. S. B. xi. p. 167, 1842. 



These remarks of Mr. Blyth have long made me desirous of 

 becoming acquainted with the internal structure of Indicator, 

 concerning which, as far as I know, we have no recorded infor- 

 mation whatever. But it is only recently, through the kindness 

 of Mr, E. L. Layard, that I have succeded in obtaining a speci- 

 men of a bird of this genus in spirits. The examination of this 

 example, although not by any means in a good state of preser- 

 vation, has enabled me to determine several points concerning 

 the structui'e of Indicator- ; and I therefore propose to submit to 

 the readers of 'The Ibis ^ a few notes on the subject, trusting 

 that Mr. Layard will net fail to answer my appeals for further 

 and more perfect specimens, so that all doubt as to correct 

 position of this somewhat obscure but interesting form may be 

 set at rest. 



