The Zoologist — November, 1868. 1439 



any reptile that may chance to come within his reach. The well- 

 known feathers are situated in a plume beneath the tail." — p. 491. 



After this tribute to the volatile powers of the marabou, we must 

 descend to his relative the stork, concerning which familiar bird and 

 a species of flycatcher, and the strange partnership which seems to 

 exist between the two, there is one of the most interesting details of 

 economy I have ever chanced to find in the journals of a traveller. 

 The fellowship or co-partnership between widely different animals is 

 one which requires the most careful investigation ; it meets us at 

 almost every step ; and yet it is with the greatest difficulty that we 

 can decide whether the apparent partners are friends or enemies. 

 Think of the prairie dog, the owl and the rattlesnake forming a 

 sociable community ; meditate on the anxiety of the titlark to pro- 

 vide for the cuckoo ; study the economy of every wild bee, and of the 

 parasite always living at its expense ; and a world of hitherto unex- 

 plained wonders seems to open up to our astonished vision. 



" During the march over a portion of the country that had been 

 cleared by burning we met a remarkably curious hunting-party. A 

 number of the common black and white stork were hunting for grass- 

 hoppers and other insects, but mounted upon the back of each stork 

 was a large copper-coloured flycatcher, which, perched like a rider on 

 his horse, kept a bright look-out for insects, which from its elevated 

 position it could easily discover upon the ground. I watched them 

 for some time : whenever the storks perceived a grasshopper or other 

 winged insect, they chased them on foot, but if they missed their 

 game the flycatchers darted from their backs and flew after the insects 

 like falcons, catching them in their beaks, and then returning to their 

 steeds to look out for another opportunity." — p. 547. 



In the next passage I shall cite, flycatchers are introduced, and the 

 curious fact is recorded that these birds, together with the buzzards, 

 hover in the smoke of the burning prairie to catch the locusts that are 

 disturbed by the unwonted blaze. What were these buzzards, and 

 these flycatchers, and these locusts ? 



" A fine breeze ; therefore I set fire to the grass in all directions, 

 which spread into a blaze over many miles of country. The fire 

 immediately attracts great numbers of flycatchers and buzzards ; 

 these hover in the smoke to catch the locusts and other insects that 

 escape from the heat. Buzzards are so exceedingly bold, that it is 



