220 



EASTERN ETHIOPIA 



XVII 



l)irds of Egypt. This ancient historian affirmed that the 

 crocodile, though living in the water, "has its mouth 

 entirely filled with leeches. So that while all other 

 birds and beasts avoid the crocodile the trochilus lives 

 peacefully with it, and at times enters his mouth and 

 gulps down the leeches. The crocodile is pleased at the 



^ sei vices thus rendered and 

 does not hurt the trochilus " 

 (Book XL). 



At the present day the 



Plover [Pluvianvs cegrjiJticus) 



behaves to the 



crocodiles as the 



oxpecker to the 



The Monitor { Varanut^ u'doliois) 

 swallowing the egg of a 

 crocodile. 



rhinoceros, hippopotamus and buftalo, for it hops about 

 their bodies and rids them of the vermin which lie in the 

 creases of their thick skins. This plover has been called 

 the croctxlile's living tooth-pick. I have endeavoured to 



