16 Mr. G. L. Bates— Field-Notes on the 
near our camp, one at a time, on different days. They were 
seen, each time, sitting silently, watching the bees buzzing 
about the camp, I think, for bees are attracted to a little 
fresh clearing in the forest. The stomach-contents of the 
birds were mainly particles of wax, mixed with bits of 
insects, and had a smell of honey ; but sometimes there were 
only bits of insects. These birds have the toughest skin of 
any that I know ; it is like strong yellow parchment. All 
of them had much fat underneath it. The tough skin, and 
perhaps the fat also, must be a protection against bee-stings. 
I never heard these birds or any other Indicator make a 
sound. My boys told me that the “ Mali,” as they call all 
the species of this genus, makes a little cheeping cry of 
“Woe! woe” (“woe” means “honey”). They say that 
sometimes, on going to where the bird is, they find honey. 
But the natives here know nothing about following it through 
the forest; indeed, this would be a difficult thing, even for a 
native, to do. 
653. Indicator conirostris. [Mali.] 
Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 440. 
A very young bird (No. 2416), obtained later than those 
which have been reported on in Dr. Sharpens paper, is 
interesting because of the place in which it was found. It 
was taken in the hole of an Ovol ( Heliobucco bonapartii). 
In other holes in the same dead tree were birds of that 
species; but the little Indicator was found in its hole alone, 
so that it formed, apparently, the entire family of its foster- 
parents. In its stomach was found, besides insects, the 
fruit of the “ asen ” tree, i. e . the usual food of the Barbet, 
but not of the Honey-Guide. 
This bird is too young to shew certainly to what species 
it belongs, except that it is already too large to be Indicator 
exilis. The only other species obtained thus far at the Ja is 
I. conirostris , and the young bird looks like that species. 
I have noticed in examples of different species of Indicator 
that the rim of the nostrils forms a raised ring, which is not 
seen in a specimen after the skin becomes di*y. 
(See my note in The Ibis/ 1904, p. 89.) 
