306 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



ft portion. It is more probable, however, that the object of the birds 

 by their cries, when endeavouring to get at the honey, is to call 

 others of their kind, and that the natives are thus guided to the 

 spot. Their skin is said to be very tough, to guard them from 

 the stings of the bees. It is asserted, nevertheless, that they are 

 sometimes stung "to death, having been found dead in the hives, 

 covered over with a layer of wax. Their flight is described to be 

 heavy, and continued only for a short distance at a time. This, I 

 should think to be doubtful. Tlie nest (if any) is made in holes 

 of trees ; and their eggs are white and shining, like those of 

 the Woodpeckers. 



Gen. Indicator, Vieillot. 



Char. — Same as those of the sub-family, of which it is tlie only 

 genus. 



190. Indicator xanthonotus, Blyth. 



J. A. S., XL, 16G, and XIV., 198— Jerdon, III Ind. Orn.,pl. 50. 

 The Yellow-backed Honeyguide. 



Descr. — General plumage above, dark clove-brown; forehead ting- 

 ed with yellow ; lower back and rump bright yellow; beneath dusky 

 brownish-ashy ; some yellow on the chin, throat, and sides of the 

 neck : sides of the rump and end of the upper tail-coverts passing 

 to blackish ; the thigh-coverts and under tail-coverts streaked black 

 and white ; tail with the centre feathers dark brown, some of the 

 outer ones paler, and the outermost feather is broadly edged with 

 whitish. 



Length h\ inches ; wing 3| ; tail 2| ; bill at front \ ; foot ly'^. 



This Honeyguide has been procured very rarely in the S. E. 

 Himalayas, in Sikim. Nothing is known of its habits ; and the Lep- 

 chas, to whom I showed a drawing of the bird at Darjeeling, did not 

 appear to recognise it, and certainly knew nothing of its honey- 

 finiling instincts. 



/. archipelagicus, Temm., is from the islands of Malayana. 

 Several species are found in Africa. 



Fam. Megalaimid^, Barbets. 

 Syn. CapitonincBf Gray. Bucconince, Swains, (in part). 



