RHINOCEROS BIRDS. 511 



One species of this bird, observed in Angola, possesses a 

 bill of a peculiar scoop or stone forceps form, as if intended 

 only to tear off insects from the skin ; and its claws are as 

 sharp as needles, enabling it to hang on to an animal's ear, 

 while performing a useful service within it. This sharpness 

 of the claws allows the bird to cling to the nearly insensible 

 cuticle without irritating the nerves of pain on the true 

 skin, exactly as a burr does to the human hand ; but in the 

 case of the Buphaga Africana and erythrorhyncha, other 

 food is partaken of, for we observed flocks of them roosting 

 on the reeds, in spots where neither tame nor wild animals 

 were to be found. 



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

 When it is shot, the others often seem at a loss what to do, 

 and stop in a state of bewilderment. I have seen them 

 then attempt to follow each other and appear quite 

 confused, no one knowing for half a minute or more where 

 to direct the flight. On one occasion I happened to shoot 

 the leader, a young zebra mare, which at some former 

 time had been bitten on the hind leg by a carnivorous 

 animal, and, thereby made unusually wary, had in con- 

 sequence become a leader. If they see either one of their 

 own herd or any other animal taking to flight, wild animals 

 invariably flee. The most timid thus 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 is 

 seen to occur, when the females bring forth their young, 

 causes all the leaders to be at that time females ; and 

 there is a probability that 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 she antelopes is partaken of only by the 

 young males, and their more frequent flights now, have 

 the effect of leaving the old males behind. I am inclined 

 to believe this, because, though the antelopes, as the 

 pallahs, &c, are frequently in separate herds, they are 

 never seen in the act of expelling the males. There may 

 be some other reason in the case of the elephants ; but 

 the male and female elephants are never seen in one herd. 

 The young males remain with their dams only until they 

 are full grown, and so constantly is the separation main- 

 tained, that any one familiar with them, on seeing a 

 picture with the sexes mixed, would immediately conclude 



