358 LEADERS OF HERDS. Chap. XXVII. 



somewhat as the domestic clog is to man ; and while the 

 buffalo is alarmed by the sudden flying up of its sentinel, the 

 rhinoceros, having an acute ear, is warned by the cry of its 

 associate. The rhinoceros feeds by night, and its sentinel is 

 frequently heard in the morning uttering its well-known call 

 as it searches for its bulky companion. One species of this 

 bird possesses a bill of a peculiar forceps form, as if intended to 

 tear off insects from the skin, and has claws as sharp as needles, 

 enabling it to bang on to an animal's ear while performing a 

 useful service within it. Both the birds, however, that we 

 have just described, partake of other food than the parasitical 

 insects of the animals they are attached to, for we observed 

 flocks of them roosting on reeds in spots where neither tame 

 nor wild animals were to be found. 



The " leader " is generally the most wary animal in a herd. 

 On one occasion I happened to shoot a young zebra mare, the 

 leader of a, herd, and it turned out that it had been at some 

 previous time bitten on the hind leg by a carnivorous animal, 

 and thereby made unusually wary. If wild animals see 

 either one of their own herd or any other animal taking to 

 flight, they invariably flee, and hence the most timid naturally 

 leads the rest. It is not any other peculiarity, but simply 

 this provision, which is given them for the preservation of 

 the race. The great increase of wariness which attends the 

 season of parturition causes all the leaders at that time to be 

 females ; and perhaps the separation of sexes into distinct 

 herds, which is annually observed in many antelopes, arises 

 from the simple fact that the greater caution of the females is 

 felt only by the young males, and that the old males get left 

 behind in their frequent flights. I am inclined to believe 

 this, because the antelopes, as the pallahs, &c, are never seen 

 in the act of expelling the males. There may be some other 

 reason in the case of elephants ; but the males and females 

 are never seen in one herd, the young males remaining with 

 iheir dams only until they are full grown. So constantly is 

 the separation maintained, that any one familiar with them, 

 on seeing a picture with the sexes mixed, would immediately 

 conclude that the artist had drawn it from imagination, and 

 not from sight. 



December 2, 1855. — We remained near a small hill, called 



