GUARDIAN BIRDS. 
421 
from purely selfish motives, lie is not 
content to extract the parasites from the 
easy and conspicuous s})ots, but hojis with 
great care all over his huge charge, now 
tlirusting his inquisitive beak into this 
ear, now hopping over the liead and in¬ 
specting the other, now examining tlie 
corners of the mouth, and next wisely see¬ 
ing that the region of the eyes is safe. 
The guardian duty is not usurped by 
one bird, hut, as if im])re.ssed with the 
importance of the ta.sk, as many as a half- 
dozen will devote themselves to one rhi¬ 
noceros. Nor do they limit their duties 
to parasite inspection. Like the trochilus, 
they watch over his slumbers, and warn 
him by vociferous crying of the approach 
“Chukuroo,” he .says, “ pei*fect]y nn- 
denstands their warning, and springing to 
his feet, he generally first looks about him 
in every direction, after which he invai’i- 
ahly makes otf. I have often hunted a 
rhinoceros on horseback which led me a 
cha.se of many miles, and required a num¬ 
ber of shots before he fell, during which 
cha.se .several of these birds remained by the 
rhinoceros to the last. They reminded me 
of mariners on the deck of some bai-k sail- 
ingon the ocean, for they perched alonghis 
back and sides, and as each of my bullets 
told on the shoulder of the rhinoceros 
they ascended about six feet into the aii*, 
uttering their harsh cry of alaian, and 
then resumed their position. It .some- 
KllIXOCEUOS-niltDS A.NI) WIIITK RHINOCEROS. 
of an enemy, and when noise fails to arouse 
him they fly at his face and flap it with 
their wings. Gordon Gumming, who writes 
lileasantly, but not .scientifically, .says that 
more than once his careful stalking was 
rendered naught by the watchful presence 
of these birds. 
times happened that the lower branches 
of trees under which the rhinoceros pass¬ 
ed swept them from their living deck, but 
they always recovered their former sta¬ 
tion. I have often shot these animals at 
midnight when drinking at the fountains, 
and the birds, imagining they were asleep, 
