INDICATORnXE INDICATOR 151 



Mrs. Barber states that in the neighbourhood of Grahamstowii 

 the eggs are laid in the nests of the Black-collared Barbet (Lybius 

 torquatus), and Mr. Ivy tells me that at Blue Krantz in the Uiten- 

 hage division of the Colony, in November, 1894, he observed one of 

 these birds being chased by two Drongos, the nest of which was 

 seen at the top of some high Euphorbia trees, and that he could 

 distinctly see the transparent egg of the Honey Guide among the 

 more opaque white eggs, three in number, of the Drongo. 

 ejb-fac. "V 



446. Indicator variegatus. Scaly -throated Honey Guide. 



Le Grand Indicateur, femelle, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. v, p. 135, pi. 241, 

 fig. 2 (1806) ; Sundev. Krit. Fmmst. Orn, Levaill. p. 50 (1857). 



Indicator variegatus, Lesson, Traite, p. 155 (1831) ; Grill, K. Vet. 

 Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 43 (1858) [Knysna] ; Layard, B. S. 

 Afr. p. 242 (1867) ; Sliarpe, ed. Layard 1 8 B. S. Afr. pp. 167, 810 

 (1876-84); Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 7 (1891) ; id. B. Afr. i, p. 125 

 (1896) ; Sliarpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 500 [Zululand] ; Woodward Bros. 

 Natal B. p. 107 (1899) ; Ivy, Ibis, 1901, p. 21 [Uitenhage] . 



Indicator maculicollis, Sundev. Ofvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forli. 1850, 

 p. 109. 



Description. Adult. The feathers of the forehead and anterior 

 part of the crown with black centres and pale edges causing a 

 mottled appearance, rest of the head and neck a dull green, 

 becoming a bright olive on the back and wings ; the upper tail- 

 coverts dusky edged with bright olive ; wing-quills and coverts 

 dusky edged with olive ; two pairs of the central tail-feathers black, 

 the four outer pairs chiefly white with dusky tips ; chin and throat 

 white streaked with black, the breast ochreous-white slightly 

 mottled with dusky, giving a scaly appearance, rest of under parts 

 yellowish-white, the flanks and under tail-coverts streaked with 

 brown ; under wing- coverts white mottled with brown. 



Iris light brown ; bill black, lower mandible light at the base ; 

 legs and feet bluish-slate. 



Length 7*25 ; wing 4-10 ; tail 2-90; tarsus O70 ; culmen 0-45. 



Distribution. This species was originally obtained by Levaillant 

 on the south coast of the Colony, but was considered by him to be 

 merely the female of the previous species, Indicator major; that 

 this was not the case was first pointed out by Sundevall, who 

 received a considerable series of examples of this bird from Wahl- 

 berg obtained in " Lower Kaffraria." 



The distribution of this bird within our limits appears to be 

 somewhat restricted, as it has only been hitherto recorded from the 



