BIRDS WHICH FEED ON INSECTS 



moment or two, to see if there is any fear of disturbance during 

 their coming meal. The whole party then set to work and scour 

 the entire body of the animal, a proceeding which the latter seems 

 thoroughly to appreciate, for it is no uncommon sight to see an 

 ox lying stretched out on the ground, exposing every part of his 

 body to their ministrations. When they have got all they can out 

 of one beast they pass on to another, and repeat the process till 

 their appetite is satisfied." 



While the Ox- Pecker obtains a large part of its food from 

 the bodies of domesticated animals, another well - known and 

 widely-distributed bird, the White-eared Honey- Guide (Indicator 

 Sparmanni) (fig. 352), 

 a near relative of the 

 woodpeckers, makes 

 use of man himself, 

 but in a different way. 

 Knowing that human 

 beings have a weak- 

 ness for honey the in- 

 genious bird acts as 

 .a guide to bees' nests, 

 taking the grubs and 

 young bees as his 

 share of the spoil. 

 We cannot do better 

 than make another 

 quotation from Mil- 

 lais: " The marvel- 

 lous reasoning-power 

 of the latter (i.e. the 



Honey-Guide) seems to demand' some better word than instinct. 

 . . . Mentally marking every nest of bees in a certain locality, 

 he hangs around till he meets with a friendly biped, to whom he 

 makes known his presence and his desire by a pleasant chuckling 

 note. This he keeps up incessantly as long as the man is in view. 

 Then, after a short undulating flight of about 100 yards, he 

 generally alights on a dead bough, so as to make himself as con- 

 spicuous as possible, and loudly continues his chuckling. If not 

 attended to, he returns again and again with increasing audacity, 

 as I have previously described; but if followed, he waits till the man 



Fig. 352. White-eared Honey-Guide (Indicator Sfiarmanni) 



