7.28 :\rr. W. L. Sclater on Birds cuUtcted 



tlioru-busli, calling quietly to itself ; this may have been a 

 sort of song^ as the usual note is loud and clear. I have 

 seen so few examples of this species that I have been unable 

 to make any exact observations on its habits. 



The soft parts arc : — Irides hazel ; bill, legs and toes blue- 

 slate-coloured.] 



445. Indicator vartegatl'S. 



Z. Ngoye Hills, Oct. (1); Tv. Legogot, Apl. (1) ; 

 P. Tambarara, July (1). 



[I have observed this IIoney-Guide in the Knysna^ Zulu- 

 land, and Legogot, Eastern Transvaal, and from the forests 

 of the Gorongoza district. As with tlie others, I have been 

 extraordinarily unlucky in coming across this species, and it 

 ■was only in the Eastern Transvaal that I was able in any 

 way to study its habits. What has been said by Sparrmann 

 about the guiding-habits of /. indicator is equally true of 

 this bird, and I have myself on several occasions found the 

 nests of bees by its aid. At the Cape the natives say that it 

 is useless to follow a pair, as they are only calling to each 

 other, but that it is the single birds wliich endeavour to 

 attract attention. I have not been able to prove this con- 

 clusively, although it is true that all those which I have 

 followed have been solitary. It does not, however, always 

 happen that the bird takes its follower to honey, as it often 

 brings him to snakes, leopards, and sometimes to game. 



The soft parts ai'C : — Irides brown ; bill blackish, pale at 

 base of lower mandible ; legs and toes pale slate-coloured.] 



447. Indicator mixor. 



Z. Hluhluwe Stream, Aug. (1) ; Ngoye Hills, Oct. (1 ). 



[Only on the two occasions when I shot specimeris did I 

 find this little Honey-Guide. It appears to be very retiring 

 in habits, and like /. variegatus is partial to well-wooded 

 and forest country. I have not recorded its call or other 

 habits, having seen so little of the species. 



The soft parts are : — Irides hazel ; bill blackish brown, 

 much paler at base of lower mandible ; legs and toes slate- 

 coloured.] 



