THE ALETHE CASTANEA. 187 
representatives, the leopards, or the bashikouay or hye- 
nas), and then the rest was eaten by the people, all in 
the presence of the doctor. 
Next came the division of the great heaps of uncook- 
eq meat. The town, the town’s friends, the hunters, 
the hunters’ friends and thezr friends, all came and got 
shares. I received about fifty pounds for myself, then 
besides I had a piece of the trunk, and four of the feet 
were giventome. These, by the way, must have weigh- 
ed more than fifty pounds by themselves. 
As soon as I went back to my place I got an orala 
and smoked my meat, which I intended to keep, as we 
say, for a rainy day, that is, for a day when I would have 
nothing to eat. 
I do not know why, but for a few days after the kall- 
ing of the elephants the country was full of bashikou- 
ays. I could scarcely move anywhere. without falling 
in with these fellows, and their bites were, as usual, very 
severe. They had no doubt smelled the elephant flesh 
and claimed their shares. I noticed that there was a 
curious little bird with these bashikouays, the Alethe 
castanea. This is a beautiful bird, which follows or pre- 
cedes these bashikouays, and feeds on the insects that fly 
away from the ants; it is a new species. They fly in 
small flocks, and follow industriously the bashikouay ants 
in their marches about the country. The birds eat in- 
sects; and when the bashikouay army routs before it the 
frightened grasshoppers and beetles, this bird, like a reg- 
ular camp-follower, pounces on the prey and carries it off. 
The natives have some superstitions about this bird, 
and it is said by them to have a devil in it. For what 
reason they say so I could not find out. 
