CUCKOOS 163 



near the entrance to the nest-hole of one of the barbets ; 

 the head of the barbet may be seen protruding from the 

 aperture. When encamped in a gorge near Bluekrantz 

 in the Uitenhage division of the Cape Colony, we wit- 

 nessed an instance of the persistence with which the 

 Honey-guides appropriate the nests of other birds. We 

 saw the bird fly to the nest-hole illustrated above., and 

 endeavour to enter. The male Barbet opposed this and 

 was afterwards assisted by his spouse, who fiercely 

 attacked the Honey-guide, pursuing it down the kloof, 

 chattering and fighting all the while. In a few minutes 

 the Honey-guide reappeared and the same thing was re- 

 peated for over an hour. W^e then shot all three of the 

 birds, and found the Honey-guide with an egg actually 

 protruding from the oviduct. Two fresh eggs of the 

 Barbet were found in the nest-hole (vide fig. 4, plate 87), 

 the centre egg is that of the Honey-guide. 



The Brown Honey-guide (Prodotiscus regulus) is brown 

 above and white below, the throat and flanks being 

 washed with brown. 



This is a rare bird in South Africa. 



CUCKOOS. 



The true Cuckoos are a fairly numerous family in 

 South Africa, and form the first Sub-family (Cuculince) of 

 the Family Cuculida, the second Sub-family being the 

 Coucals (Centropodince) , already dealt with in our chapter 

 of Denizens of the Forest. 



The parasitic habits of the Cuckoos were made known 

 to science a good many years ago, and innumerable 

 stories were told of the European Cuckoo (Cuculus 

 canorus), many of them exaggerated. So far as our 



