HORNS HEARING SMELL SIGHT DISPOSITION. 377 



At the age of two years the horn is said to be not more 

 than an inch long ; at six years old it is nine or ten inches 

 long, and grows, as seen in the white species, to the length 

 of three or four feet. 



The rhinoceros is a very affectionate mother, and guards 

 her offspring with the tenderest care. The young, in its turn, 

 clings dotingly to its dam, and, even for a day or two after 

 the latter has been killed, the calf is frequently found along- 

 side the carcass. Several instances of the kind have come 

 under my personal notice, and many others are to be found 

 in the records of African travelers and hunters. 



The sense of hearing and smell of this animal is most 

 acute. I have had numerous opportunities of testing both 

 tliese qualities. Even when feeding, lying down, or obeying 

 any passing demand of nature, he will listen with a deep and 

 continued attention until the noise that has attracted his at- 

 tention ceases. He " winds" an enemy from a very great dis- 

 tance ; but if one be to leeward of him, it is not difficult to ap- 

 proach within a few paces. 



His sight, on the other hand, is not good. From the pe- 

 culiar position of his eyes, which are deep set in the head, 

 and his'unwieldy horns, he can only see what is immediately 

 before him. 



The "black" species, as before said, are of a very sullen 

 and morose disposition. They are, moreover, subject to sud- 

 den paroxysms of unprovoked fury, rushing and charging 

 with inconceivable fierceness animals, stones, bushes — in 

 short, any object that comes in their way. 



Seen in his native wilds, either when browsing at his leis- 

 ure, or listlessly sauntering about, a person would take the 

 rhinoceros to be the most stupid and inoffensive of creatures ; 

 yet, when his ire is roused, he becomes the reverse, and is 

 then the most agile and terrible of animals. 



Colonel AVilliamson speaks of a rhinoceros in India whose 

 ferocity was such as to render the roads impassable by at- 



