THE PIE KIND. 219 



Of this bird there are many kinds in various 

 parts of the world, not only differing in their co- 

 lours but their size. Brisson makes not less than 

 twenty-eight sorts of them; but what analogy 

 they bear to the English cuckoo, I will not take 

 upon me to determine. He talks of one, parti- 

 cularly, of Brasil, as making a most horrible noise 

 in the forests ; which, as it should seem, must be 

 a very different note from that by which our bird 

 is distinguished at home. 



[The following description of the Indicator, or 

 Honey-Guide, (sometimes called the Moroc), is 

 given by Dr Sparrman in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions for 1777. " This curious species of 

 cuckoo is found at a considerable distance from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, in the interior parts 

 of Africa. Its colour has nothing striking or 

 beautiful. Its size is considerably smaller than 

 that of our cuckoo in Europe; but in return, 

 the instinct which prompts it to seek its food in 

 a singular manner, is truly admirable. Not only 

 the Dutch and Hottentots, but likewise a species 

 of quadruped named ratel, (probably a species 

 of badger), are frequently conducted to wild 

 bee-hives by this bird, which, as it were, pilots 

 them to the very spot. The honey being its fa- 

 vourite food, its own interest prompts it to be 

 instrumental in robbing the hive, as some scraps 

 are commonly left for its support The morning 

 and evening are its times of feeding, and it is 

 then heard calling in a shrill tone, cherr, cherr ; 

 which the honey-hunters carefully attend to as 

 the summons to the chase. From time to time 



