BIG GAME AND ITS BIRD-PROTECTORS 275 
such as warbles, bots, ticks and other vermin, that in 
Africa infest all large animals, whether tame or wild. 
Thereby, incidentally, the birds tend to rid the suffering 
beasts of a distressing and ceaseless scourge. For many 
of these vermin, laying their eggs within the hide, are 
hatched in a living cradle of flesh and blood, where their 
presence creates intense, often maddening, irritation. 
The birds themselves are about the same size as our 
starlings, of no special personality, and are furnished 
with a strong wedge-like beak, well adapted for digging 
out their burrowing prey. In colour that organ varies 
from bright yellow to pale red. 
That Bupliaga erythroryncha is actuated by honest 
solicitude for the safety of the wild game, appears to be 
demonstrated by the fact that when feeding on the 
backs of cattle, or domestic animals, its conduct is quite 
different. In such cases, no notice whatever is taken of 
the appearance of a human being, and no warning is 
given. The bird appears to have reasoned-out the fact 
that cattle stand in no danger from the hunter. 
There are several other species of birds which 
occasionally (whether by design or otherwise) communi¬ 
cate alarm to one’s quarry. Among these may be 
mentioned the glossy starlings, rollers or blue jays, 
colies and rasvogel. Egrets also and buff-backed 
herons attend upon game, perching on their backs to 
feed upon flies and ticks, and should be named, though, 
being so conspicuous and easily avoided, they never give 
trouble to the hunter. 
In East Africa, one of the most troublesome birds 
to the big-game hunter is the black-winged plover 
(Stephanibyx melanopterus), a shrieking peewit-like bird 
with a brazen voice and the lung-power of a suffragette. 
Many birds, as is well known, habitually “ give 
tongue ” on seeing a strange creature or something they 
suspect. At home, all are familiar with the uproar that 
small birds raise on discovering a prowling cat or stoat 
or snake, or a somnolent owl in an ivied tree. This is, I 
imagine, the motive—the common impulse to mob any 
