HUNTING— FISHING— WARS AND EXPEDITIONS. 45 



recognise this service, allow the bird to wander 

 quietly over their hide. The Buphaga, who gives him- 

 self up entirely to this kind of chase, is often called the 

 Beef-eater. He is only found in the society of flocks, 

 of camels, buffaloes, or oxen. He settles on the back, 

 legs, and snouts of these living baits. They remain 

 passive even when he opens the skin in order to draw 

 out the flies' larva ; they know the benefit of this little 

 operation. The patience of the oxen is certainly due 

 to custom, for it is observed that herds which are not 

 used to this bird manifest great terror when he 

 prepares to alight on them, so that they even take 

 flight from this small aggressor. 



Sometimes it is not easy to understand the advan- 

 tages derived by the animal from the conditions in 

 which he is usually found. Thus, for example, there 

 is a fish, the Polyprion cernium, which accompanies 

 driftwood on which Barnacles have fixed themselves. 

 Yet the remains of these Crustaceans are never found 

 in his stomach, and it is known on the contrary that 

 he lives exclusively on other small fish. It is possible 

 that these find their food in fragments of wood at the 

 expense of the barnacles, and that therefore the Poly- 

 prion which hunts them is always near driftwood thus 

 garnished. 



Methods of utilising the captured game. — Frequently 

 it is not enough for the animal to obtain possession 

 of his prey. Before making his meal it is still 

 necessary to find a method of making use of it, either 

 because the eatable parts are buried in a thick shell 

 which he is unable to break, or because he has captured 

 a creature which rolls itself into a ball and bristles its 

 plumes. Here are some of the more curious practices 

 followed in such cases. 



