482 . UNGULATA. 



tion that I should doubt very much the assertion that the Rhinoceros can 

 see only what is straight before it. I should think, on the contrary," 

 continues Mr. Baines, " that anything exactly in front would be absolutely 

 hidden from its view." Mr. Chapman estimated the weight of one of 

 these White Rhinoceroses as being probably not less than five thousand 

 pounds avoirdupois. 



"The male," he says, "measures six feet eight inches at the withers, 

 carries his head so low that the chin nearly sweeps the ground, and is 

 constantly swaying his head to the right and left when suspicious. The 

 calf instead of going behind or at the side, always precedes the dam, 

 and when fleeing is helped on by her horn or snout. The back of this 

 animal is tolerably straight, the croup being as high, or even higher, 

 than the withers. It moves each ear alternately backwards and forwards 

 when excited, and the ears, when thrown forward, turn as if on a pivot, 

 so as to bring the orifice innermost. In the other African Rhinoceroses 

 the two ears are moved together, and not alternately. The ears are 

 pointed or tufted." 



This animal is of a comparatively mild and gentle disposition; and, 

 unless in defence of its young, or when hotly pursued, or wounded, will 

 very rarely attack a man. " It is gregarious in families," remarks Mr. 

 Chapman, "the individuals comprising which are greatly attached to 

 each other ; and it utters a long sound, and not such a startling, whistling 

 snort as the Borele does. It is an indolent creature, and becomes exceed- 

 ingly fat by eating grass only." Elsewhere, he remarks of a herd of eight 

 which he observed at a drinking-place : " The Rhinoceroses, all ot which 

 were of tiie white kind, occupied each twelve minutes to drink their fill, 

 after which they wallow in the mud, or else go to their regular sleeping- 

 places. At these their dung is found accumulated sometimes to the 

 amount of a ton or more. They like the warmth of the manure to lie 

 in. The sounds emitted by these animals is something like the coughing 

 of a horse, and when in distress, a stifled asthmatic cr\- ; when in pain 

 they squeal like a storm-whistle." According to Gordon Gumming and 

 others, their Iksh is excellent, and even preferable to beef The speed 

 of this species is very inferior to that of the others, so that a peison well 

 moimted can easily overtake and shoot them. 



But in spite of its usual gentleness the White Rliinoceros is some- 

 times pugnacious, as the following anecdote related by Mr. Oswell dis- 

 plays: " Once as 1 was returning from an elephant chase, I observed a 



