166 
SPORT AND WAR. 
CHAP. XVIII. 
the moth stings you, and that death is almost instant¬ 
aneous. 
I have certainly often found them in bees’ nests, as 
the wild hives are called, and have heard them make 
this rumbling sort of noise ; but we always watched and 
killed them with a bough or branch as they came from 
the nest. Such hives are generally without honey, or 
at least contain very little. 
There is also a small animal in South Africa, known 
there as the 4 Rattle,’ a description of badger, which 
displays great intelligence in searching after wild honey, 
on which it lives and for which it will follow the 
honey-bird to find the hive. 
The bird must be aware that the rattle scratches 
and gnaws away the entrance-hole to the bees’ nest to 
get at the honey, and that in taking out the honey¬ 
comb there is a certain portion which falls to the 
bird’s lot. At any rate, each appears to know the 
peculiarity of the other, for the bird, on seeing the 
rattle, will fly on from tree to tree cher-r-r-ing and 
clucking until she comes to the,beehive; and the 
rattle will follow, making a grunting noise from time 
to time. 
The rattle is a very thick-skinned animal, and 
cares little for the sting of the bees; yet nature has 
provided it with the power of ejecting a peculiarly strong 
smell, which appears to stupefy the bees, and they 
