478 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



where it comes into play. With it it can probe beneath a stone with far 

 greater ease than if the bill were straight. 



Another of the plovers is the celebrated leech-eater, or trochilos of the 

 Nile, which was and is still said to act as attendant to the crocodile, freeing 

 it from parasites of all sorts. This story appears in the writers of antiquity, 

 but with some variations. The bird was said to live at peace with the rep- 



FlG. 403. — European avocet i U> ■mrvirostra avocetta). 



tile, and to go inside his mouth and pick off the leeches and pull the frag- 

 ments of food from between his teeth. Next intervened a period of scepti- 

 cism and doubt; but now in its essentials the old story has been confirmed: 

 the bird picks the parasites from the body, and even ventures to snatch the 

 morsels from between the teeth. It may be that some future student will 

 again bring forward the story that the crocodile opens his mouth and invites 

 the bird to enter the cavity, there to play the part of a living toothpick. 



