THE PACHYDERMS 63 



undoubtedly given to it by some Dutch colonist, and 

 the beast will continue to be called the white rhino- 

 ceros long after it has been exterminated from the 

 face of Africa. 



The habitat of these animals was, as I have said, 

 a restricted one. Within the last 150 years, at all 

 events, they were, until quite recently, found only in 

 the wide countries between the Orange and a line 

 formed by the Cunene and Zambesi rivers. A few 

 years since it was rumoured that some animal bearing 

 a strong resemblance to this rhinoceros had been met 

 with in Central Africa. This suspicion has been 

 verified ; Africa is always full of surprises ; and 

 a fresh find of the white rhinoceros has come to 

 light in the regions about Lado, on the White 

 Nile. 



The white rhinoceros was sluggish in disposition, 

 sleeping much by day, drinking towards dusk or the 

 early part of the night, beginning to feed towards 

 afternoon, grazing its way towards water, and con- 

 tinuing to eat during the night and early morning. 

 Many a rhinoceros has been shot while recumbent 

 and fast asleep in some shady part of the veldt 

 during the heat of the day. These animals (of either 

 species) are, however, nearly always attended by the 

 well-known rhinoceros birds, usually the Buphaga 

 erythorhynca, a species of starling, and, thanks to the 

 vigilance of these friends, the approach of the hunter 

 is often detected, and the great beast moves off and 

 escapes. Possessing excellent powers of scent, the 

 white rhinoceros had peculiarly poor sight, so much 



