HONEY-G UIDES. 



569 



especially as regards the zygodactyle foot. The oil-gland is tufted, and there are 

 no blind appendages (caeca) to the intestine. The honey-guides are principally 

 African, no less than ten species out of twelve being found in the Ethiopian region. 

 In the Himalaya, however, the yellow-backed honey-guide is a resident, and in the 

 mountains of the Malay Peninsula and in Borneo occurs the most eastern represen- 

 tative of the genus, the Malayan honey-guide. 



Two genera only are known, the true honey -guides (Indicator) and the 

 dwarf honey -guides (Prodoriscus). The latter genus contains two species, one 

 from South-Eastern, the other from Western and Equatorial Africa, both of them 



WHITE-EARED HONEY-GUIDE (| nat. size). 







having only ten tail-feathers instead of twelve, like the rest of the honey-guides. 

 Sir John Kirk states that " 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 neighbouring trees, calling attention. On being followed, 

 it goes further ; and so it will guide the way to a nest of bees. When this is 

 reached, it flies about, but no longer guides ; and then some knowledge is needed 

 to discover the nest, even when pointed out by the bird to within a few trees. I 

 have known a honey-guide, if a man, after taking the direction for a little, then 

 turns away, to come back and offer to point out another nest in a different part. 

 But if it does not know of two nests it will remain behind. The difficulty is 

 that it will point to tame bees in a bark hive as readily as to those in the 



