The Honey-bird 



eighteen inches wide, and into this he put the 

 honey. Placing the makeshift dish on his woolly 

 pate with a grin, he was ready to start. 



Cooe rewarded the bird by crumbling up some 

 of the comb that had the young bees in it, then, 

 scratching a little earth aside with his assegai, 

 placed the broken comb there, lightly re-covering 

 it with earth. On many subsequent occasions 

 I followed these birds. All my boys were honey 

 gluttons, especially Cooe ; they evidently pre- 

 ferred the comb with the young bees within it, 

 for they stuffed their mouths full of it another 

 proof that there is no accounting for taste. 



With reference to this bird, there is no sort of 

 doubt but that they deliberately call the way- 

 farer's attention by chattering. I have tried them 

 by persistently ignoring their summons, some- 

 times owing to my not having time to follow it 

 up, or to see what the bird would do in such a 

 case. I found that they will track you for some 

 time, but give it up as a bad business if you do 

 not shortly take any notice of them. I take it 

 that from time immemorial the natives have 

 appreciated their feathered allies by leaving some 

 of the comb as a reward, the birds being unable 

 to obtain their favourite diet without human 

 assistance. The trick has therefore almost be- 

 come an hereditary instinct ! 



In this part of the country I noticed a great 

 many native beehives, which are placed in the 



H 97 



