144 INDICATORID.E 



Pinetown, June (Ayres in Bt. Mus.), Umlazi, Aug. (Bt. Mus.), 

 Blaauwkrantz Eiver, near Colenso, May (Gates), Colenso, Nov., 

 and Ladysmith, Nov. (Butler), Echowe (Woodward) ; Transvaal 

 Rustenburg, July, scarce (Ayres). 



Habits. The Wrynecks differ considerably in appearance from 

 other Woodpeckers, as the feathers composing their tails are not 

 stiff but soft like that of other birds and they are not used to assist 

 in climbing, but are often seen cocked up as the bird climbs a tree. 

 The South African Wryneck seems to be nowhere very common ; it 

 is generally found in open park-like country, where it flies from 

 tree to tree giving utterance to a harsh screaming cry sometimes 

 reminding one of that of a hawk ; its flight is heavy and dipping ; 

 its food consists exclusively of insects of various kinds, and is almost 

 entirely obtained in the crevices of the trunks and branches of 

 trees ; unlike the true Woodpecker it never hammers or bores into 

 the solid wood for food ; ants and other insects are caught by the 

 tongue, which is long, retractile, and provided with a glutinous 

 secretion to which the insects stick ; it may often be seen sitting 

 on a bough for a long time uttering a monotonous call-note. 



Dr. Stark found a nest of this bird at Pinetown, in Natal, on 

 August 22 ; it was in a hole in a Syringa tree in a garden about ten 

 feet above the ground ; the birds had hatched out the young ones 

 and the parent was watched bringing food to them ; before entering 

 the hole it clung for a short time to the tree trunk ; before leaving 

 it sat for a long time with its body half out of the hole watching, 

 and when doing so was nearly invisible. 



Family II. INDICATORIDJS. 



Bill short and stout; wing long and pointed with only nine 

 primaries, the first nearly as long as the second ; tail of twelve or 

 ten feathers ; feet zygodactyle, i.e., first and fourth toes back- 

 wardly directed ; second and third forwardly directed. 



Palate aegithognathous ; vomer bifid ; oil gland tufted ; caeca 

 absent. 



The Honey Guides are most of them found in Africa ; two species 

 occur in the Himalayas and one in the mountains of the Malay 

 Peninsula and Borneo. So far as is known they are parasitic in 

 their habits, like cuckoos. 



