HONEY-GUIDE CUCKOW- 
>ortunities of shooting it ; which I did, to the 
rreat indignation of my Hottentots. Froni 
hose specimens, both of which are supposed 
o be Females, I have made the subsequent 
jlescription. The inhabitants in general accuse 
i:he same bird of sometimes conducting it's fol- 
lowers where wild beasts and venomous ser- 
pents have their places of abode : this, how- 
ever, I never had an opportunity of ascertain- 
ing myself ; but one ought to believe such cases 
to be accidental, where dangerous animals 
happen to be in the neighbourhood of a Bees 
nest. 
" While I staid in the interior parts of 
.Africa, a nest was shewn to me, which some 
peasants assured me was the nest of a Honey- 
< Guide. It was woven of slender filaments or 
^fibres of bark, in the form of a bottle. The 
; neck, and opening, hung downwards : and a 
! string, in an arched shape, was suspended; 
across the opening, fastened by the two ends 
perhaps, for. the bird to perch upon.' 5 ' 
To this account of the bird's manners-, 
Dr, Sparman adds a very minute scientific 
description. 
