WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



on a mad rush in my direction. In this critical mo- 

 ment my rifle went off accidentally ; the bullet, however, 

 hit the animal's head, though somewhat high. The rhi- 

 noceros almost touched me as it passed. I ran under 

 cover into a thick thorn -bush. The animal chased one 

 of my men — I was accompanied by ten natives — twice 

 around the gabled trunk of a big locust-tree, and then 

 disappeared in the thorny thicket. I did not dare 

 fire another shot at the animal, fearing that I might 

 wound one of my men hiding in bushes and behind 

 trees. A fever which laid me up for two days prevented 

 my following up the animal. 



It is essential in hunting the rhinoceros to observe 

 carefully the direction of the wind. This is best done 

 by lighting a match or dropping fine sand to the 

 ground or holding up a wet finger. The animal depends 

 mainly on its keen scent to warn him of the approach 

 of an enemy. The rhinoceros, also, is almost invariably 

 attended by the so-called rhinoceros - birds (Bnphaga), 

 which clean it from parasites, like ticks, and act as 

 guards to warn it of danger by their shrill twitter. 

 The lying animal will rise at this alarm signal and 

 either flee or lie down again after a while. In the latter 

 case the birds again alight on their host and again warn 

 him when the hunter makes another attempt to ap- 

 proach his prey. This is another case of two animals 

 combining for protection, their senses supplementing 

 each other. Of all the rhinoceroses which I succeeded 



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