both lungs and a rib on the opposite side, and then lodged beneath the skin.  But, though it was eight ounces in weight, yet he ran off some distance, and was secured only by the people driving him into a pool of water and killing him there with their spears.  The herd ran away in the direction of our camp, and then came bounding past us again.  We took refuge on a large ant-hill, and as they rushed by us at full gallop I had a good opportunity of seeing that the leader of a herd of about sixty was an old cow; all the others allowed her a full half-length in their front.  On her withers sat about twenty buffalo-birds (’Textor erythrorhynchus’, Smith), which act the part of guardian spirits to the animals.  When the buffalo is quietly feeding, this bird may be seen hopping on the ground picking up food, or sitting on its back ridding it of the insects with which their skins are sometimes infested.  The sight of the bird being much more acute than that of the buffalo, it is soon alarmed by the approach of any danger, and, flying up, the buffaloes instantly raise their heads to discover the cause which has led to the sudden flight of their guardian.  They sometimes accompany the buffaloes in their flight on the wing, at other times they sit as above described.

Another African bird, namely, the ‘Buphaga Africana’, attends the rhinoceros for a similar purpose.  It is called “kala” in the language of the Bechuanas.  When these people wish to express their dependence upon another, they address him as “my rhinoceros”, as if they were the birds.  The satellites of a chief go by the same name.  This bird can not be said to depend entirely on the insects on that animal, for its hard, hairless skin is a protection against all except a few spotted ticks; but it seems to be attached to the beast, somewhat as the domestic dog is to man; and while the buffalo is alarmed by the sudden flying up of its sentinel, the rhinoceros, not having keen sight, but an acute ear, is warned by the cry of its associate, the ‘Buphaga Africana’.  The rhinoceros feeds by night, and its sentinel is frequently heard in the morning uttering its well-known call, as it searches for its bulky companion.  One species of this bird, observed in Angola, possesses a bill of a peculiar scoop or stone forceps form, as if intended only to tear off insects from the skin; and its claws are as sharp as needles, enabling it to hang on to an animal’s ear while performing a useful service within it.  This sharpness of the claws allows the bird to cling to the nearly insensible cuticle without irritating the nerves of pain on the true skin, exactly as a burr does to the human hand; but in the case of the ‘Buphaga Africana’ and ‘erythrorhyncha’, other food is partaken of, for we observed flocks of them roosting on the reeds, in spots where neither tame nor wild animals were to be found.