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THE COMMON HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



Hippopotamus amph ibius. A u CT. 

 PLATE VII. 



The Hippopotamus inhabits principally the 

 rivers of South Africa, but is receding fast before 

 civilization, and it is not now found without a 

 march of considerable distance to the interior. 

 The rivers of the north of Egypt, on the Nile, 

 are also inhabited by them, where they are 

 gregarious in small parties. Like all the large 

 animals of this family, they are herbivorous, and 

 only quit the water by night, or during the 

 greatest seclusion, feeding on roots and succulent 

 stems of large aquatic plants. Their system of 

 dentition is fitted for cutting and bruising ; the 

 teeth are of large size, very heavy, and yield the 

 firmest and hardest kind of ivory. The eyes, 

 nostrils, and ears, are all placed nearly on the 

 same plane, which allows the use of three senses, 

 and of respiration, with a very small portion of 

 the animal being exposed, and a shot at the 

 whole great bulk of the animal can scarcely ever 



