272 THE STORY OF THE RHINOCEROS. 



open ridicule, as preposterous extensions of the traveler's privilege of ro- 

 mancing. I can bear witness to the truth of these reports. Once while 

 hunting the rhinoceros in Africa, I saw a huge female lying in the jungle 

 asleep. My first thought was to photograph her and then attack her. T. 

 began to crawl toward her, but before I could reach the proper distance 

 several rhinoceros-birds, by which she was attended, warned her of the 

 impending danger, by sticking their bills into her ear, and uttering their 

 harsh, grating cry. Thus aroused, she suddenly sprang to her feet, and 

 crashed away through the jungle at a rapid trot, and I saw no more of 

 her. 



These rhinoceros-birds are constant attendants upon the hippopotamus 

 and the four varieties of rhinoceros, their object being to feed upon the 

 ticks and other parasitic insects that swarm upon these animals. They are 

 of a grayish color, and are nearly as large as a common thrush; their voice 

 is very similar to that of the mistletoe-thrush. Many a time have these 

 ever-watchful birds disappointed me in my stalk, and tempted me to invoke 

 an anathema upon their devoted heads. They are the best friends the 

 rhinoceros has, and rarely fail to awaken him, even in his soundest nap. 

 ''Chukuroo" perfectly understands their warning, and springing to his 

 feet, he generally first looks about him in every direction, after which he 

 invariably makes of. 



Next to the elephant in size, comes the rhinoceros, which with the 

 hippopotamus, lays claim to bulk and ferocity unequalled by any other mem- 

 ber of the animal kingdom. The rhinoceros is found in the rivers of Cen- 

 tral Africa and Southern Asia. It can only live in tropical climates. 



The length of the rhinoceros is usually about twelve feet, and this is 

 also nearly the girth of its body. The skin, which is of a blackish color, is 

 disposed, about the neck, into large plaits or folds. A fold of the same 

 kind passes from the shoulders to the fore legs; another from the hind 

 part of the back to the thighs. The skin is naked, rough, and covered with 

 a kind of tubercles, or large callous granulations. Between the folds, and 

 under the belly, it is soft, and of a light rose-color. The horns are com- 

 posed of a closely-packed mass of horn fibers, growing from the skin, and 

 having no connection with the bones of the skull, although there are prom- 

 inences on the latter beneath each horn. Although the African species 

 arc entirely dependent on their enormous horns, as weapons of offense and 

 defense, the Asiatic kinds, in which the horns are smaller, seem to rely 

 chiefly upon their sharply-pointed lower tusks, which are capable of inflicting 



