bee-cuckoo, noun
- Forms:
- Also bee-cuckow.
- Origin:
- So named because of its cuckoo-like behaviour; see quotation 1927.
obs.
honey-guide.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. II. 186The bee-cuckow, (Cuculus indicator)..deserves to have more particular notice taken of it in this place.
1905 G.W. Stow Native Races of S. Afr. 86They had also a most useful ally and assistant in carrying out this work, in the honey-bird — the ‘Bee cuckoo’ of Sparrman and called ‘honing-wijzer’, the honey-guide, by the Hottentots and Dutch.
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