664 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



to the square-mouthed species, which is never found east 

 of the river, in the domain of the hook-hpped species. It 

 is an added singularity in the distribution of these African 

 rhinos that in South Africa they should have abounded in 

 the same localities, while in the north their ranges are 

 sharply divided by the upper Nile. 



Our observations of the square-mouthed rhino were made 

 during the three or four weeks we spent at and near our 

 camp in the Lado, about midway between Lake Albert 

 Nyanza and Nimule. All told we must have seen about 

 fifty individuals. Of course we molested none after obtain- 

 ing the full series needed for the collection; the extreme 

 rarity of the species in collections rendered it of much im- 

 portance that the series should be full. 



We found them rather more gregarious than the common 

 kind. Once we found four, and once five, together; in the 

 former case they were lying down, so that it was not a mere 

 fortuitous gathering to graze. Ordinarily they were found 

 singly, or a cow and calf — often two or three years old — 

 together; or a bull might be with the cow and calf. They 

 are purely grazers, grass-feeders, and live only where there 

 are great plains covered with the dry African pasturage; 

 but these plains are generally dotted with clumps of bushes, 

 and with a scattered growth of scantily leaved thorn-trees, 

 acacias. The country is crossed here and there by broad, 

 smooth, well-trodden trails, made by the elephants with 

 some help from the rhinos, and often travelled by other 

 game. We found the rhinos going to water, either at the 

 Nile or some pond, during the night. They would then 

 feed slowly back into the dry wastes, their spoor through the 

 tall grass or over the burnt places being readily followed by 



