27 0 
ON SAFARI 
in the excellent Journal of the South African Ornitho¬ 
logists Union , Vol. Ill, plate i (June 1907), where the 
following description of the phenomenon is given 
by Messrs. A. K. Haagner, F.Z.S, and R. H. Ivy— 
“The extremity of the beak in the nestling is 
furnished with a pair of hooks which are hard, strong, 
and very sharp. These peculiar appendages, which 
remind one of the reptile-like toothed birds of Jurassic 
and Cretaceous ages, such as Archaeopteryx maerura 
head op nestling Indicator variegatus (scaly-throated honey-guide) 
SHOWING THE “ FORCEPS ” ON MANDIBLES. 
from the Middle Oolites, are very curious so far as bird- 
anatomy is concerned, and one is led to wonder at the 
reason of their presence. We can only conjecture that 
they are of use to the nestling when ejecting the young 
of the rightful owner of the nest; as it would, by means 
of these hooks, secure a perfectly firm hold of the bird it 
wanted to throw out.” 
The article proceeds to explain that the pirated nests 
were invariably placed in holes of trees (such as those 
of barbets, woodpeckers, etc.), where the usual method 
employed by the young British cuckoo of working itself 
under its victim, and so ejecting it, would not avail: 
whereas these tooth-like appendages would serve the 
