THE HONEY GUIDES 1745 



be a harbinger of the cuckoo's arrival in the spring. It is also called in some parts 

 of England the pee-pee, doubtless from its curious note, which resembles the words 

 Pee-pee-pee, uttered in a somewhat shrill voice. In summer the wryneck is found 

 over the greater part of Europe and Asia, extending even to Japan, its northern 

 range being about 62 north latitude. Both the Indian and the Japanese birds have 

 been considered to be distinct, but Mr. Hargitt recognizes but one form. The 

 Asiatic birds which breed in the countries north of the Himalayas, and even in 

 Kashmir, winter in the Indian Peninsula, and the Japanese birds in China and the 

 Burmese countries. The European wrynecks appear to winter in Northern Africa 

 and extend to Abyssinia, and on the west coast to Senegambia. The wryneck does 

 not climb trees like a woodpecker, though it clings to the trunk of a tree in pur- 

 suit of its insect food. It feeds largely on ants, and is often seen on the ground 

 in pursuit of its prey, and, unlike the woodpecker, does not bore a nest hole, but 

 selects one in a tree, ' generally a decayed fruit tree, as it is fond of frequenting 

 orchards. The eggs are sometimes as many as ten in number, but the average 

 number is seven or eight. They are white like those of a woodpecker, but not quite 

 so glossy. 



THE HONEY GUIDES 



Family iNDICATORIDsE 



Long classified with the cuckoos, which they resemble in the structure of their 

 feet, while they are also believed to lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, the 

 honey guides are now recognized as a distinct group. In place of selecting totally 

 different birds, the honey guides appear to choose for victims their own nearest kin- 

 dred, such as the barbets and woodpeckers; the little honey guide depositing its 

 white eggs into the nests of the red- vented woodpecker, the little tinker barbet, or 

 the pied barbet, while the large white-backed honey guide selects the banded bar- 

 bet as its victim. In structure the honey guides are now admited to be akin to 

 woodpeckers and barbets, having many characteristics in common with both those 

 groups, especially as regards the zygodactyle foot. The oil gland is tufted, and 

 there are no blind appendages (cceca) to the intestine. The honey guides are prin- 

 cipally African, no less than ten species out of twelve being found in the Ethiopian 

 region. In the Himalayas, however, the yellow-backed honey guide is a resident, 

 and in the mountains of the Malay Peninsula and in Borneo occurs the most eastern 

 representative of the genus, the Malayan honey guide. 



Two genera only are known, the true honey guides (Indicator) and the dwarf 

 honey guides (Prodoriscus). The latter genus contains two species, one from South- 

 eastern, the other from Western and Equatorial Africa, both of them having only 

 ten tail feathers instead of twelve, like the rest of the honey guides. Sir John Ktrk 

 states that "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 neighboring trees, calling attention. On being followed, it goes 



