INDICATOR, Vieil. Tern. Levail. HONEY GUIDE.
Bill strong, conical, dilated at the base, narrow towards the tip ; the upper mandible bent and carinated, the lower recurved at the tip ; nostrils slightly covered with fea thers; the outer hind toe longest, and armed with a short claw. The birds of this very limited family have their designation from directing the natives to the repositories of wild honey. Their skin is so tough and compact, as to be with difficulty pierced with a pin, an admirable provi sion against the stings of bees, which, nevertheless, con trive to attack them near the eyes, and thus often destroy them.
I. major, Vieil. Cuculus indicator, Gmel. and Lath. Great Honey Guide, Honey Cuckoo, or 1Ioros. Olive green above, yellow beneath; rump and tail coverts whites upper wing coverts white, varied with olive. The fore part of the neck and breast are pale yellow, and the middle of the neck is varied with black spots, which ascend to the throat. The female, described as the I. Sparrmanni by some, is rusty grey above, and white beneath. Inhabits the interior of Africa, at a considerable distance from the Cape of Good Hope. This bird is very fond of honey and bee maggots ; but, being unable by its own efforts to pro. cure them from the hollows of trees, it points out to man. and to the animal called ratel, the nests of wild bees. The morning and the evening are its principal meal times ; or at least, it is then that it shows the greatest inclination tc come forth, and, with a grating cry of cherr, cherr, cherr, to excite the attention of the ratel, as well as of the Hot. tentots and colonists. Somebody then generally repair! to the place whence the sound proceeds, when the bird continually repeating its cry, flies on slowly, and by de. grees, to the quarter where the bees have taken up theii abode. The persons thus invited follow accordingly taking great care, at the same time, not to frighten theim guide by any unusual noise, but rather to answer it now and then by a soft gentle whistle, by way of letting the bird know that its call is attended to. When the bees' nest is at sonic distance, the bird often makes long stages or flights, waiting for its sporting companions between each movement, and calling to them again to come on ; hut it flies to shorter distances, and repeats its cry more frequently, and with greater earnestness, in proportion as it approaches the nest. When the bird has, sometimes
in consequence of its impatience, got too far ahead of its attendants, but particularly when, on account of the une venness of the ground, they have not been able to keep pace with it, it will fly back to meet them, and, with re doubled cries, seems to chide their tardiness. When it arrives at the nest, whether the latter is placed in the cleft of a rock, or in a hollow tree, or in some cavity in the soil, it hovers over the spot for a few seconds, then sits in silence, and, for the most part, concealed, in sonic neigh bouring tree or bush, in expectation of the result, and with a view of receiving its share of the booty Nor is it dis appointed ; for the hunters, in reward for its services, leave it a considerable portion of that part of the comb in which the bees are hatching. Mr. Barrow corroborates these details, and adds, that the moroc intimates to the inhabitants, with equal certainty, the dens of lions, tigers, hyenas, and other beasts of prey, or noxious animals. Mr. Bruce, on the contrary, by confounding the present species with another, which is peculiar to Abyssinia, has indulged in some very misplaced strictures on the accounts of Sparrmann and Lobo. Levaillant mentions, that the Hot tentots are very partial to the moroc, on account of its good offices; and that once, when he was on the point of shooting one, they entreated him to spare its life. Ac cording to the same author, the female nestles in the hol lows of trees, into which she climbs like the wood-pecker, and lays three or four eggs of a dirty white, the male par ticipating in the cares of incubation. A nest, which was shown to Dr. Sparrmann, as belonging to the moroc, was composed of slender filaments of bark, woven together in the form of an inverted bottle ; and a string was suspended across the opening, and fastened by the two ends, perhaps for the birds to perch on. But such an apparatus was probably the production of some of the hang-nest tribe.