598 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
have terminated here, but by my superior agility I had the 
advantage in the turn. After standing a short time, eyeing 
me through the bush, he got a whiff of my wind, which at 
once alarmed him. Uttering a blowing noise, and erecting 
his insignificant yet saucy-looking tail, he wheeled about, 
leaving me master of the field, when I sent a bullet through 
his ribs, to teach him manners. 
But the most extraordinary fact connected with the history 
of the rhinoceros comes under the observation of Cumming 
immediately after this incident. It is thus introduced :— 
On the forenoon of the 23d a native came and informed 
me that he had discovered a white rhinoceros lying asleep in 
a thick cover to the south. I accordingly accompanied him to 
the spot, and commenced stalking in upon the vast muchocho. 
He was lying asleep beneath a shady tree, and his appearance 
reminded me of an enormous hog, which in shape he slightly 
resembles. He kept constantly flapping his ears, which they 
invariably do when sleeping. Before I could reach the proper 
distance to fire, several “rhinoceros birds,’ by which he was 
attended, warned him of his impending danger by sticking 
their bills into his ear, and uttering their harsh, grating cry. 
Thus aroused, he suddenly sprang to his feet and crashed 
away through the jungle at a rapid trot, and I saw no more 
of him. 
These rhinoceros birds are constant attendants upon the 
hippopotamus and the four varieties of rhinoceros, their 
object being to feed upon the ticks and other parisitic insects 
that swarm upon these animals. They are of a grayish color, 
and are nearly as large as a common thrush; their voice is 
very similar to that of the mistletoe thrush. Many a time 
have these ever-watchful birds disappointed me in my stalk, 
and tempted me to invoke an anathema upon their devoted 
heads. They are the best friends the rhinoceros has, and 
rarely fail to awaken him even in his soundest nap. ‘ Chu- 
kuroo” perfectly understands their warning, and, springing 
