MISCELLANEOUS BIRDS 



57 



esting to speculate how these curious customs of bird, 

 and beast, and man, may have found their origin in 

 the dim recesses of the past. 



The various species of honey-guides are parasitic in 

 that they, like the cuckoo, deposit their eggs in the nests 

 by built other birds. The fledgelings are provided with 



GROUND HORNBILL 



Sabi Game Reserve. Photo 



hooks on their mandibles, which they perhaps use to 

 turn the young of their foster-parents out of their 

 nursery. 



Sitting quietly in the bush you will seldom fail to hear 

 the " tap, tap " of the woodpecker, as he hops at all 

 angles up and down the trunk of some insect-infested 

 , tree. Entirely an insect-eater, he is consequently a deadly 

 foe to that form of life. A very tame one used to make 

 a habit of visiting my veranda for the purpose of picking 



