272 
THE STORY OF THE RHINOCEROS. 
open ridicule, as preposterous extensions of the traveler’s privilege of ro¬ 
mancing. I can bear witness to the truth of these reports. Once while 
hunting the rhinoceros in Africa, I saw a huge female lying in the jungle 
asleep. My first thought was to photograph her and then attack her. I 
began to crawl toward her, but before I could reach the proper distance 
several rhinoceros-birds, by which she was attended, warned her of the 
impending danger, by sticking their bills into her ear, and uttering their 
harsh, grating cry. Thus aroused, she suddenly sprang to her feet, and 
crashed away through the jungle at a rapid trot, and I saw no more of 
her. 
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 parasitic 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. 
“Chukuroo” perfectly understands their warning, and springing to his 
feet, he generally first looks about him in every direction, after which he 
invariably makes of. 
Next to the elephant in size, comes the rhinoceros, which with the 
hippopotamus, lays claim to bulk and ferocity unequalled by any other mem¬ 
ber of the animal kingdom. The rhinoceros is found in the rivers of Cen¬ 
tral Africa and Southern Asia. It can only live in tropical climates. 
The length of the rhinoceros is usually about twelve feet, and this is 
also nearly the girth of its body. The skin, which is of a blackish color, is 
disposed, about the neck, into large plaits or folds. A fold of the same 
kind passes from the shoulders to the fore legs; another from the hind 
part of the back to the thighs. The skin is naked, rough, and covered with 
a kind of tubercles, or large callous granulations. Between the folds, and 
under the belly, it is soft, and of a light rose-color. The horns are com¬ 
posed of a closely-packed mass of horn fibers, growing from the skin, and 
having no connection with the bones of the skull, although there are prom¬ 
inences on the latter beneath each horn. Although the African species 
are entirely dependent on their enormous horns, as weapons of offense and 
defense, the Asiatic kinds, in which the horns are smaller, seem to rely 
chiefly upon their sharply-pointed lower tusks, which are capable of inflicting 
