NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 313 



I suppose I moved, for suddenly it saw me, and instead of flying 

 away as any respectable bird would have done, he jumped up 

 about a foot from the ground, screamed ' Zic-zac ! zic-zac !' with 

 all the powers of his voice, and dashed himself against the croco- 

 dile's face two or three times. The great beast started up, and 

 immediately spying his danger, made a jump into the air, and, 

 dashing into the water with a splash which covered me with mud, 

 he dived into the river and disappeared. The zic-zac, to my in- 

 creased admiration — proud, apparently, of having saved his friend 

 — remained walking up and down, uttering his cry, as I thought, 

 with an exulting voice, and standing every now and then on the 

 tips of his toes in a conceited manner, which made me justly angry 

 with his impertinence. After having waited in vain for some time, 

 to see whether the crocodile would come out again, I got up from 

 the bank where I was lying, threw a clod of earth at the zic-zac, 

 and came back to the boat, feeling some consolation for the loss of 

 my game in having witnessed a cii'cumstance, the truth of which 

 has been disputed by several writers on natural history. 



The crocodile's protector was actuated, doubtless, by 

 that self-interest which governs so many social compacts ; 

 and Herodotus, when he describes the bird as freeing 

 the crocodile from his troublesome parasites, only re- 

 cords an alliance which is far from uncommon in the 

 history of animals. To say nothing of the familiar in- 

 stances of the daws, magpies, and starlings, that attend 

 upon our sheep and horned cattle, there are more close 

 alliances founded on a reciprocity of benefits. Such, 

 among the warm-blooded vertebrated animals, is the 

 connexion between the Buphaga erythrohyncha — the 

 heef-eat-er of the English, the pique-boeuf of the French, — 

 and the oxen, camels, and antelopes, which it frees from 

 the larvae that burrow in their hides, for which service 

 its feet and beak . are admirably adapted ; — the feet, 

 armed with strong claws, affording a firm hold on the 

 back of the animal, and thft beak, fashioned so as to dig 

 and extract the maggots as neatly as an instrument, com- 

 bining the qualities of a lancet and forceps, in skilful 

 surgical hands, could perform the operation. Such 

 are the rhinoceros bii'ds mentioned by Mr. Gumming. 



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