-^ Ivhinoccroses 



from parasites, but which, by a sudden outburst of twitter- 

 ing and a clattering of their wings, warn him of impending 

 danger. Thus j)ut on the alert, he rises up quickly 

 or assumes his well-known sitting positicm, ready to take 

 to thght if need be, but lying down again if there seems 

 to him to be no enemy near. 



If the hunter is favoured by the wind and able to 

 conceal himself after this first alarm, and the rhinoceros 

 lies down again, the birds — varying in number from 

 a very few to a couple of dozen — settle down again upon 

 his hospitable body. But the moment they become aware 

 of your near a[)proach, thev leave it again, arousing the 

 animal once more. It is a case of a partnership between 

 an animal with a very keen sense of smell and birtls with 

 very keen eyes. 



To what extent these birds are responsible for a 

 small wound of about the size of a five-shilling piece, which 

 I have found on almost all the rhinoceroses I have shot, I 

 am uncertain. The natives declare that it is caused by 

 the birds. I have brought home specimens of skins with 

 these wounds on them, so that they may be investigated. 

 They are generally on the left side of the paunch. In 

 anv case, I have found only one rhinoceros without 

 this " dundo," to use the native word. In this respect 

 rhinoceroses are different from elephants, of which the 

 skins are smooth and uninjured. 



In spite of the activity of these rhinoceros-birds, which 

 are sometimes helped by ravens, we find the black 

 rhinoceros infested by great numbers of ticks (some of 

 theni extraordinarily big), especially in the region of the 



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