ZOOLOGICAL 
which, however, in the Uele district and the 
Bahr-el-Ghazal are far more eager to follow 
herds of giant eland. It so happens that at 
A least one of these birds always 
Guardian seems to be on the lookout to warn 
Bird big game of the slightest danger. 
As the little oxpeckers rise higher and higher into 
the air their sharp shrill notes act as a magic 
whip even for rhinoceroses. Without a 
ment’s delay the thud of swiftly moving feet 
affirms the obedience shown to the tiny feath- 
ered sentinels. In long, dipping flight the birds 
follow their charges, which do not resume the 
interrupted siesta until the order to move is 
countermanded. This quick response on the 
part of those dull beasts seems to indicate that 
mo- 
their hearing, like the sense of smell, is not 
hampered by the lethargy shown in sight and 
touch. 
The oxpeckers’ food consists only of ticks, al- 
though some hairs are swallowed incidentally. 
Often they are said to enlarge their hosts’ 
wounds, from which they are believed to gather 
some nourishment. With their strongly hooked 
claws they have no difficulty in clinging to the 
hide of the larger mammals, following herds of 
game and also cattle. Over the rough hide of a 
rhinoceros an oxpecker clings and climbs in 
any direction, head up or head down, like a 
brown creeper on the rough trunk of a tree. 
It is difficult to prove whether they actually in- 
tend to their whether their 
natural shyness indirectly causes the alarm. 
Surely among herds of cattle they become so 
tame that they can be approached without 
trouble. 
warn hosts, or 
No cow-herons (Bubulcus ibis) were seen with 
white rhinoceros in the Uele, though Roosevelt 
reports them in numbers near the Nile. 
Some might think that horseflies 
(Haematopota and other Taban- 
ids) find the hide of the white 
rhinoceros too thick, but another, really minute, 
blood-sucking fly (Lyperosia) is a character- 
istic companion, constantly hovering in great 
swarms about their huge prey. Their presence 
often indicated to us the proximity of a sleeping 
herd before we could actually. see it. In such 
cases we listened for the usual noises that denote 
their exact whereabouts. And even while we 
halted. other tiny flies, which never attack the 
healthy human skin, gathered upon wounds or 
small scratches, and their bites always produced 
an infection which retarded healing. On care- 
ful inspection it became apparent that the hides 
of rhinoceroses have thousands of little injuries 
Fly 
Enemies 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN 89 
whose exudations furnish ample nourishment for 
these insects. 
More remarkable still is an oestrid fly (Gyro- 
stigma pavesii), whose grub-like larve often 
cover large portions of the stomach lining, just 
as those of other species do in zebras. Accord- 
ing to Dr. Rodhain’s investigations,* this large, 
beautiful fly. whose entire life history is inti- 
mately connected with the white rhinoceros, fixes 
its eggs upon the skin of the head, neck, and 
shoulder of its host. The young larve after 
escaping from the egg probably crawl about, 
enter the mouth of the rhinoceros, and reach its 
stomach, where they remain throughout their 
stages. Final into 
the imago is attained when together with the 
successive transformation 
excrement they leave the body and burrow into 
the ground to pupate. 
Intestinal parasites, especially 
Internal round worms (nematodes) are 
Parasites 
numerous, and most noteworthy 
is a broadened, rather short tape worm 
(Taenia). The large numbers of these parasites 
are astonishing, yet they seem to be rather a 
sign of good health, instead of a serious plague. 
What has indirectly contributed 
Use of more than anything else to the 
Horns PA ann » 
Bediniade gradual extermination of the 
white rhinoceros are the horns, 
a dusky inconspicuous mass, and a relatively 
insignificant part of the bulky brute. ‘They 
made the horn-bearer a danger, and the horns 
could be sold. Greek and Hindu traders were 
ready to buy them at the value of ivory which 
has proven so fatal to the elephant.  Super- 
stitions of* peoples in far off Asia made a mar- 
ket for horns, at good prices. Greasy and sleek 
humanity, rudely cursing or suavely smiling, 
has been willing to guarantee health to those 
stolidly believing, so long as the mere powder 
and scrapings from rhino horns sufficed. The 
craze among native chiefs to own a horn staff 
of unsurpassed length helped decimate the white 
rhinoceroses in South Africa. 
White man, too, has bid for these rarities, 
and not in vain. Polished and shaped into 
canes, gold-topped and diamond encrusted, these 
horns become Amulets to 
keep away witchcraft were carved easily, and 
worn willingly. A cup turned out of rhinoceros 
horn was believed to splinter at the mere touch 
of obscure poison, and insured carousals their 
unchallenged happy-go-lucky — strain. Now 
statuettes and other bric-a-brac, fashioned by 
valuable “curios.” 
* Rodhain, J. and 
Belgique, LII, 4, 
Bequaert, J. Bull. Biolog. 
1919, pp. 379-465, Pl. III. 
France et 
