110 
IN AFRICA 
in other words, whenever a hunter tries to approach 
their own particular rhino from any direction, wind¬ 
ward, leeward, or any other way, the ever alert and 
watchful rhino birds sound a tocsin of warning. 
The rhino pricks up his ears and begins to show 
signs of taking notice. He doesn’t know where or 
what the danger may be, but he knows the C. Q. D. 
code of danger signals as delivered to him from the 
outposts on his back and hastens to get busy in an 
effort to locate the foe. As a general thing the lit¬ 
tle birds, on sight of danger, begin a wild chatter, 
rising from the back of the rhino and flying in an 
opposite direction from the danger. Then they re¬ 
turn, light on the rhino’s back, and repeat, often 
several times, the operation of flying away from 
the danger. If the rhino is a wise rhino he learns 
from the birds which is the safe way to go and soon 
trots swiftly off. In a measure the habits of the 
rhino bird are as interesting as those of the rhino 
itself, and as an example of the weak protecting 
the strong, the Damon and Pythias relationship 
between bird and beast is without parallel in the ani¬ 
mal kingdom. 
The rhino is a peaceful animal. He browses on 
herbs and shrubs and dwells in friendly relation¬ 
ship with the rest of the animal kingdom. Perhaps 
once or twice a day he ambles down to some favorite 
drinking place for a drink, but the rest of the time 
he grazes along a hillside or stands or lies sleepily 
under a tree. At such times as the latter he may be 
approached quite near without much danger. Each 
