258 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



Rhinoceroses (R, bicornis) are exclusively bush-feeders. 

 The various species of mimosa form their favourite and prin- 

 cipal food. During the day, from about 9 A.M. till about 5 P.M., 

 they rest and sleep, and are then generally found in the 

 open, though I have come across them quite unexpectedly in 

 thick bush, enjoying their midday siesta, even though an open 

 plain was close by. About 5 P.M. they begin to wend their 

 way in the direction of their drinking place, feeding here and 

 there as they go on any tempting-looking mimosa bush, but 

 they do not drink until after sundown. They then make for 

 their feeding grounds, browse throughout the night, drink 

 again just before sunrise, often have a roll in a mud-hole, and 

 then make their way to the place where they intend to lie up 

 for the day. It is when on their way to or on their arrival at 

 their quarters for the day that the sportsman will generally see 

 them. 



Should a rhinoceros be found standing in open country 

 where there is but little covert, and should it be accompanied 

 by birds, which are easily seen with the aid of binoculars, 

 the sportsman should wait at a distance until it lies down 

 before beginning to crawl in. He will then have to stalk 

 the birds rather than the rhinoceros. This reminds me of 

 an incident which occurred to me before I had had much 

 experience with these beasts, when I stalked a rhino un- 

 attended by birds, and got up to it rather closer than I should 

 otherwise have done, but was betrayed at the last moment by 

 the sudden appearance of birds. This happened in December 

 1886, when encamped on the river Lumi, one march above 

 Taveta to the east of Kilimanjaro, in a delightful spot, which is 

 now known as ' Kampi ya Simba ' (lion camp) from my having 

 shot two lions there. On the 2Qth I went out, and was making 

 for the foot of the mountain when I saw two rhinos under 

 a tree^ about a mile and a half off. I was on my way to 

 circumvent them when another one, which I had not seen, 

 appeared from the left, and walked across my front, about 300 

 yards off. By the length and thinness of its front horn I knew 



