32 



RHINO CER OSES 



wastes of British East Africa seem to suit them best ; and there they 

 are equally at home in the dense scrub, such as that which borders the 

 Tana river, where they are very numerous, and in the open arid 

 plains of Masailand or Laikipia. They are also sometimes met with 

 in the forests, on the slopes of the principal mountains and ranges. 

 On the other hand, in Uganda, Usoga, and Kavirondo, bordering the 

 Victoria Nyanza, where the climate is moister, there are, so far as I 

 am aware, no rhinoceroses ; and they are also absent from the neigh- 

 bourhood of the sea-coast. As rhinoceroses must drink nightly or 



Fig. io. — Black Rhinoceros photographed by Lord Delamere in the country to 

 the east of Lake Rudolf. 



daily (I have many times watched one drink in broad daylight), they 

 are never seen any very great distance from water ; and the sight of 

 one of these animals is a sign that water is to be found somewhere 

 within a distance of not more than some 8 or lo miles. As rolling in the 

 dust is a favourite habit, these animals generally approximate in colour 

 to the soil of the country they inhabit ; -so that in one district they 

 appear almost white, and in another red or nearly black, as the case 

 may be. 



" Rhinoceroses wander and feed all night, and, where not much 

 disturbed, during a good part of the day, although during the hottest 



