INTRODUCTORY. 1 7 



Men whose paths have only led them in pleasant places and in the usual shooting 

 grounds of British East Africa might think that I have overstated facts. Those 

 whose work or inclinations, however, have taken them much in rhino-infested bush 

 and thick country will, many of them, on the contrary think that I have under- 

 estimated the facts. 



One's views are largely influenced by the sort of country one habitually traverses. 

 For instance, I have heard the mountain reedbuck generally spoken of as quite an 

 uncommon animal in this country. I am sure, however, that any surveyor, interested 

 in animal life, whose work takes him up numberless hills will bear me out that it is 

 both widely distributed and fairly common. 



Before leaving the rhino altogether I cannot resist a word on the usual method 

 of dealing with the name together with that of his congener the hippo. I generally 

 call them by these abbreviated forms, as they seem more friendly appellations. In 

 talking of them the singular will stand equally well for the plural, and " rhino " and 

 "hippo" can equally well be applied to a number. Even "rhinos" and "hippos" 

 do not sound out of place. 



As to their full names, however, about the only recollections I still have left to 

 me of a so-called classical education are centred about these animals. Therefore, 

 whilst all other derivations have long since left me, I still dimly recall that these are of 

 Greek, and not Latin, origin. How, then, they can form their plurals as rhinoceri and 

 hippopotami I fail to see. Yet in almost every book, pamphlet, article, or licence 

 concerning game I take up, these two words are always recurring in the forms given 

 above. It would appear to me as if rhino, rhinos, rhinoceros, rhinoceroses, 

 rhinocerides, hippo, hippos, hippopotamus, hippopotamuses, hippopotamoides, would 

 all be legitimate plurals when talking of them as game, but never rhinoceri or 

 hippopotami. 



In dealing with different animals in the Appendix, wherever my observations 

 have differed from those of others, I have generally appended a few instances as 

 examples. I have not multiplied examples, as such multiplication could serve no 

 purpose other than that of boring the reader unnecessarily. 



I hope to avoid "animal anecdotes" and " hunting exploits," concerning which 

 there is always a glut of literature, but in the absence of these the reader is asked 

 to believe that all conclusions are based on numerous incidents observed. 



It is very difficult often, though, to arrive at correct conclusions as to the reasons 



which actuate any animal's behaviour. The human being is really so little in touch 



with wild nature that he, as often as not, may assign quite wrong motives to its 



conduct. Here is an instance, purely hypothetical, of how different ideas may be 



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