STUKNID.E BUPHAGA 19 



According to Mr. J. G. Millais, who gives a most excellent 

 account of this species, accompanied by five drawings, in his 

 delightful "A Breath from the Veldt," the Ehinoceros Bird 

 attaches itself most frequently to the rhinoceros, the Cape buffalo, 

 the sable antelope, and the wart-hog, as well as the koodoo. 

 He writes, " The prehensile power of the claws is, as I found by 

 experience, so great that when a dead bird which had grown stiff 

 was thrown on to the back or sides of an ox so that the feet touched 

 the animal's hide, the claws held fast at once, and could not be 

 easily withdrawn. It is most interesting to notice the way in which 

 a party of these birds will move about on the body of a horse or ox, 

 searching every part of him as they run or hop over it in the most 

 lively fashion. At the risk of being accused of telling a traveller's 

 yarn, I must state the fact they can hop backwards quite as well as 

 forwards, and they often make long drops downwards from the 

 shoulders to the foreleg, or down the side of the animal whose coat 

 they are engaged upon. It is quite immaterial to them how or 

 in what direction they move." 



When the Ehinoceros Birds wish to alarm an animal of the 

 approach of danger, they rise for twenty or thirty feet and fly 

 round in a series of small circles, uttering harsh scolding notes 

 which much resemble those of the European Missel Thrush. 

 On this signal a wild animal at once takes to flight, but an 

 ox as a rule takes no notice, much to the indignation and 

 horror of the birds, who sometimes become perfectly frantic 

 in their endeavours to stampede the beast, flying wildly at 

 his face and eyes while screaming their loudest. Curiously 

 enough, all this alarm on the parts of the Ox-birds seems to be on 

 account of the animal on whose hide they have been searching for 

 food, for they themselves are among the tamest of birds, frequently 

 allowing one to walk within a few paces of them without evincing 

 any alarm whatever. These Starlings not only rid the animals 

 they frequent of ticks and other vermin, but they often peck at 

 sores on oxen and donkeys until they form cavities, which measure 

 sometimes two inches or more in diameter and as much in depth ; 

 they actually do eat the flesh and drink the blood of these animals. 

 Oxen submit quite placidly to this process of being eaten alive, and 

 seem none the worse for it afterwards, but donkeys show their 

 objections by trying to rid themselves of the birds by rolling on the 

 ground and running under bushes. 



The Yellow-billed Ox-pecker builds an untidy looking nest in 



