He Flies On In
The Proper Direction, Perches On A Tree, And Looks Back To See If You
Are Following; Then On To Another And Another, Until He Guides You To
The Spot.
If you do not accept his first invitation he follows you
with pressing importunities, quite as anxious to lure the stranger to
the bees' hive as other birds are to draw him away from their own
nest.
Except while on the march, our men were sure to accept the
invitation, and manifested the same by a peculiar responsive whistle,
meaning, as they said, "All right, go ahead; we are coming." The
bird never deceived them, but always guided them to a hive of bees,
though some had but little honey in store. Has this peculiar habit
of the honey-guide its origin, as the attachment of dogs, in
friendship for man, or in love for the sweet pickings of the plunder
left on the ground? Self-interest aiding in preservation from danger
seems to be the rule in most cases, as, for instance, in the bird
that guards the buffalo and rhinoceros. The grass is often so tall
and dense that one could go close up to these animals quite
unperceived; but the guardian bird, sitting on the beast, sees the
approach of danger, flaps its wings and screams, which causes its
bulky charge to rush off from a foe he has neither seen nor heard;
for his reward the vigilant little watcher has the pick of the
parasites on his fat friend.
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