HONEY-GUIDES. 421 



ops, since they seem to exhibit characters, both in structure and coloration, which 

 make them nearly intermediate between the barbets proper and the toucans. One 

 feature of their bill is quite unique, however, the lower mandible being distinctly bi- 

 furcated at its extremity, and the point of the upper fitting into the groove thus made. 

 On each side the point of the lower mandible overlaps that of the upper one, and, seen 

 in profile, the bill, from either side, reminds one of that of the cross-bill. In coloration 

 the two species are very different. T. ramphastinus, from Ecuador, is golden brown 

 above, orange red underneath, with ashy throat, and a scarlet breast-band, head with 

 a small medial crest, and neck above black, with a white postocular streak ; while T. 

 frantzii) from Costa Rica, is more uniform olivaceous and ochraceous, but in both 

 cases is a certain similarity to the style of the toucan genus Andigena not to be 

 mistaken. The first mentioned species is the largest, or one of the largest, of the 

 family. 



That we place the INDICATOEIDJE, or honey-guides, near the barbets and the wood- 

 peckers no longer needs special defence ; but as many authors still persist in keeping 

 them among the Cuculidae, a few words on their diagnostic structures 

 may be in order. As shown in the accompanying cut (fig. 210), 

 the palate is schizognathous, and the vomer is bifurcated in front ; 

 the dorsal tract is simple between the shoulders ; the ambiens muscle 

 is absent ; the oil-gland is tufted and the caeca are absent ; the deep 

 plantar tendons are antiopelmous ; only one carotid is present ; " the 

 tensor patagii brevis muscle of the wing is inserted into the extensor 

 metacarpi radialis longus, exactly as in the Megalaimida?, Ramphas- 

 tida?, and Picidaa, and as in no other birds." In all these respects 

 and many more the honey-guides differ from the cuckoos, but agree, 

 on the other hand, with one or more of the families just mentioned. 

 The above suffices to prove their near relationship, and Garrod even 

 went so far as to include the toucans, barbets, and honey-guides as FIG. 210. Palate of 



Indicator; mxp ,max- 



sub-families in the same family. The latter present several peculi- iiio-paiatmes ; pi, 



J IF palatines ; v, vomer. 



anties, however, among which may be mentioned that the number of 



primaries is only nine. The tail has twelve rectrices, the outer pair being small, as in 



the woodpeckers. 



The Indicatoridas form a small family of about a dozen species, three-fourths of 

 which inhabit the African continent, while the remainder are found in the Oriental 

 region ; viz., one, Indicator xanthonotits, in India, malayanus in Malacca, and archipe- 

 lagicus in Borneo. They are small birds, of rather dull colors the African species 

 illustrated in our cut (7. indicator) being brownish gray, lighter underneath, with white 

 ear-tufts, and a small yellow patch on the inner minute wing-coverts ; tail, brown and 

 white. 



The names honey-guide and indicator bestowed upon these birds refer to a pecu- 

 liarity in their habits, so astonishing that it was generally believed to be a fable, until 

 the unanimous statements of trustworthy observers seem to have put it beyond doubt. 

 One of the latest accounts is found in Mr. E. F. Sandeman's ' Eight Months in an 

 Ox-Wagon,' in which he graphically relates his experience with this curious bird, in 

 1878, in Transvaal, as follows : 



" A small gray bird with a reddish beak, the size of a sparrow, had flown along- 

 side and round the wagon for the last mile of our trek, making a shrill, hissing cry, 

 and sometimes almost flying in the faces of the drivers ; and I noticed that the boys 



