4 5 2 CORACIIFORMES CHAP. 



like bill with ridged and laterally swollen maxilla, while that of 

 Prodotiscus is more slender and pointed. Moreover, the metatarsi 

 are short ; the nostrils possess a narrow membrane and are not 

 bristly ; and the rectrices number twelve, save in the last-named 

 genus, which has ten. The curiously interrupted range includes 

 the whole Ethiopian Region, except Madagascar ; the Himalayas ; 

 and the Malayan and Bornean mountains. The sexes are gene- 

 rally similar, while almost all the forms, which hardly exceed a 

 Lark in size, are chiefly dull brown, with a yellow wash, and 

 some white on the rump, tail, or wings. 



Indicator xanthonotus of the Himalayas is blackish above, 

 with golden forehead and orange rump -region, and greyish 

 below ; the latter colour merging into yellow on the throat and 

 black on the abdomen. /. arcliipelagicus of the Malay Peninsula 

 and Borneo, and /. sparrmani of Tropical Africa, except the 

 western forests, exhibit a yellow shoulder-patch ; while the males 

 of the latter and of /. major of the same districts have black 

 throats, which are whitish and yellow in the respective females. 

 /. minor, and the remaining Ethiopian species, differ from the last 

 two forms in having no white on the lower back. Prodotiscus 

 regulus of Natal, and P. insignis, ranging from the Gaboon to 

 East Equatorial Africa, are particularly dull. 



Circumstantial accounts of eye-witnesses so clearly shew that 

 bees' nests are found through the instrumentality of these birds, 

 that their intention can hardly be doubted, and it has been said 

 that not only man but the ratel (Mellivora capensis) is con- 

 ducted ; the object of attraction, however, occasionally turns out 

 to be a leopard, cat, snake, or dog. Honey-guides call attention 

 by a shrill cry or hiss, and will even fly in the face of a 

 traveller, as if enraged at not being followed ; they eat bees, 

 grubs, and honey, and are asserted to lay white eggs in the nests 

 of Barbets and the like. 1 Sir John Kirk writes 2 of the habits of 

 Indicator minor " The Honey -guide is found in forests, and 

 often far from water, even during the dry season. On observing 

 a man it comes fluttering from branch to branch in the neigh- 

 bouring trees, calling attention. If this be responded to, as the 

 natives do by whistling and starting to their feet, the bird will 



1 Layard, ed. Sharpe, Birds of South Africa, 1875-84, pp. 166-171. Cf. Sandeman, 

 Eight Months in an Ox- Waggon, 1880, pp. 235-239. [Extract, Ibis, 1880, p. 286.] 



2 Ibis, 1864, pp. 327-328. 



