IKDICATORID^E. 81 



Family INDICATOEID^E. 



Bill stout, short. Tail-feathers 12 (except in one aberrant 

 African genus). Wing long and pointed ; only 9 primaries ; no 

 short primary, the first nearly as long as the second. Ventral 

 feather-tract forked on the throat, but not on each side of the 

 breast. 



Ethiopian and Oriental regions. A single genus is found in 

 India. 



Genus INDICATOR, Vieillot, 1816. 



Tarsus short, all toes well-developed, 3rd (outer anterior) longer 

 than 4th (outer posterior). Bill finch-like ; culmen rounded, the 

 profile considerably curved ; no nasal plumes nor rictal bristles ; 

 nostrils large, subtriangular, partly covered by a membrane. Tail 

 somewhat graduated, the outer pair of rectrices in several species, 

 as in the Indian one, considerably shorter and narrower. 



This genus contains several African species and the only two 

 Oriental members of the family ; one of these is Himalayan, the 

 other, /. archipelagicus, is Malayan, not ranging into Tenasserim. 



The African Indicators frequently point out the position of 

 bees' nests, and hence have received the name of Honey-guides. 

 Throughout Africa these birds are said to lead men to bees' nests 

 for the sake of sharing in the spoil. Nothing is known of similar 

 habits in the Indian and Malay species, though they appear, like 

 the African, to feed on hymenoptera. The Honey-guides, like 

 Woodpeckers and Barbets, lay white eggs in a hole in the stem or 

 branch of a tree, but they are said to utilize an old nest-hole of a 

 Barbet or Woodpecker for the purpose. 



1004. Indicator xanthonotus. The Yellow-backed Honey-guide. 



Indicator xanthonotus, Blyth, J. A. 8. B. xi, p. 166 (1842) ; xii, 

 p. 942, pi. ; xiv, p. 198 ; id. Cat. p. 65 ; Jerdon, III. Ind. Orn. 

 pi. 60 ; id. B. I. i, p. 306 ; id. Ibis, 1872, p. 10 ; Hume, S. F. i, 

 p. 313 ; Stoliczka, ibid. p. 425 ; Hume, Cat. no. 190 ; Shelley, Cat. 

 B. M. xix, p. 3; Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 108. 



Indicator radcliffi, Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 529; Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, 

 p. 10. 



Pseudofringilla xanthonotus, Hume, S. F. i, p. 314 (1873). 



Pseudospiza xanthonota, Sharps, Rowley's Orn. Misc. i, p. 207. 



Coloration. Broad forehead, edges of a few sincipital feathers, 

 and cheeks golden yellow; crown and sides of head including 

 area round the eyes, back and sides of neck dusky yellowish olive, 

 feathers of the crown with dark centres ; feathers of upper back and 

 scapulars, wing-coverts and quills blackish brown, all except the 

 primaries and their coverts narrowly fringed with yellowish olive ; 



TOL. III. G 



