NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



forests this Rhinoceros has, so far, escaped extinction 

 at the hands of hunters. A few exist in the Zulu- 

 land Game Reserves, and have of late years been 

 steadily increasing in numbers. Isolated specimens 

 still lurk in the dense, thorny bush in the north- 

 eastern part of the Transvaal and Southern Rhodesia ; 

 and a fairly large number are known to inhabit the 

 forests in the southern part of Portuguese East 

 Africa. 



These surviving specimens are now strictly pre- 

 served, and no doubt those from the different 

 districts will interbreed when possible, and prevent 

 the extinction of this animal in South Africa through 

 inbreeding, as will probably happen with the few 

 remaining survivors of the " White " species in 

 Zululand. 



The last Black Rhinoceros shot .in the Cape 

 Province, according to Hall, was an old bull, in the 

 year 1853 on the Coega River, not far from Port 

 Elizabeth. In the Orange Free State the last one 

 recorded was shot in 1842 at Rhenoster Kop on the 

 south side of the Vaal River in the Kroonstad 

 District. 



The Black Rhinoceros inhabits the bush-veld and 

 scrub-covered rocky country, although in certain 

 districts it is frequently seen feeding away out on 

 the grass-covered, but treeless plains, upon a small 

 plant of which it is very fond. 



It feeds upon leaves, shoots, green twigs, shrubs, 

 small plants and roots, but not grass. 



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