Beef-eater

Beef-eater (Buphaga), a small genus of African perching birds, nearly related to the starlings. The name Ox-pecker is more accurately descriptive of their habit of feeding on the larvæ of gadflies and the like, which they find on the backs of cattle, camels, rhinoceroses, and other large animals. Livingstone notes how the sharp eyesight of the South African Buffalo Birds (B. africana) make them useful sentinels to the cattle herds, and the same has been observed in regard to the rhinoceros. Their habit of devouring the insect pests, which they generally do without irritation to the infested animals, is evidently convenient and pleasant both for themselves and the cattle.