THE PACHYDERMS 71 



its siesta than it is. These birds are, as I have said, 

 members of the great starling family a family famous 

 for its attendance upon animals. Greyish brown in 

 colour, with ferruginous tail feathers and pale fulvous 

 breast, rump, and under-parts, they have orange- 

 coloured bills with red tips. Their claws are extra- 

 ordinarily developed, manifestly for the purpose of 

 hanging on to the skin of an animal in any position 

 and at almost any angle. They have an extraordinary 

 liking for various kinds of animals, notably domestic 

 cattle, wild buffalo, and rhinoceros. They are most 

 frequent attendants upon rhinos in all parts of Africa, 

 freeing their big friends of ticks and other insects, 

 and are invariably sure of a welcome. In return for 

 the friendship extended to them, they warn the 

 rhinoceros of the approach of danger, flying into the 

 air restlessly above the animal's head, and uttering 

 shrill cries. The rhinoceros knows at once what 

 these warnings portend, and usually makes off at a 

 good pace. It is not, however, invariably attended 

 by these birds, and the gunner, especially on a hot 

 day, may be able to approach, even upon a wide, 

 open grass plain, without the least difficulty, and get 

 his shot within twenty yards. A man must, of course, 

 be sure of himself and his shooting in such a 

 situation. 



The amount of black rhinoceroses slain during the 

 last fifty years in Africa must have been enormous. 

 In South Africa, between 1840 and 1880, they were 

 shot by thousands. In East Africa, where they are 

 still abundant, the earlier hunters of the middle 



