THE HOME OF THE RHINO 
111 
day he also goes to a favorite wallowing place, 
where he rolls in the red dirt and emerges from this 
dirt bath a dull red rhino. In the rhino country 
dozens of these red dirt rolling places may be 
found, each one trampled smooth for an area of 
fifteen or twenty feet in evidence of the great 
number of times it has been used by one or more 
rhinos. This dirt bath is a defensive measure 
against the hordes of ticks that infest the rhino. It 
is a subject for wonder that the six or eight tick 
birds do not keep the rhino free of ticks, and it has 
even been argued by some naturalists that the rhino 
bird does not eat ticks, but merely uses the rhino as 
a convenient resting-place. Also perhaps they en¬ 
joy the ride. We had planned to get a rhino bird 
and perform an autopsy on him in order to analyze 
his contents, but did not do so. 
After the rhino has taken his dirt wallow T , and 
looks fine in his new red coat, he then slowly and 
painstakingly proceeds to kill time during the rest 
of the day. If danger threatens he becomes exceed¬ 
ingly nervous and excited. His anxiety is quite 
acute. In vain he tries to locate the danger, rushing 
one way for a few yards, then the other way, and 
finally all ways at once. His tail is up and he is 
snorting like a steam engine. When he rushes 
toward you in this attitude it looks very much as 
though he were charging you with the purpose of 
trampling you to flinders. As a matter of fact, or, 
rather, opinion, he is merely trying to locate where 
you are in order that he may run the other way. He 
