THE RHINOCEROS 



son, and others — have characterized the double-horned 

 rhinoceros as irascible, excitable, and highly whimsical. 

 There is no counting on what a rhinoceros may do 

 when approached or attacked. One of my own ad- 

 ventures, which I had in November, 1903, may illus- 

 trate this point. I had spent the whole forenoon try- 

 ing to get a camera-shot at a troop of giraffes. I could 

 not get near enough to the animals, which were unusu- 

 ally shy. Disappointed, tired, and thirsty, I was on 

 my way back to the camp when I became aware of 

 two rhinoceroses which, for some reason or other, were 

 abroad on the steppe in broad daylight, and in spite of 

 the heat. I was about four hours' walk from the camp, 

 and three thousand feet from the animals. A slight 

 but unfavorable breeze was blowing, and I walked in 

 a large circle to approach the animals against the wind. 

 After half an hour I saw them lying under a big bush. 

 Accompanied liy four of my n^en, I managed to get 

 within three hundred and sixty feet of the animals. 

 We took cover under a moderately thick thorn -bush 

 erowinCT on a deserted ant-hill. There were, fortunate- 

 ly, no rhinoceros-birds with the animals, and our pres- 

 ence remained, therefore, unheralded. I had taken sev- 

 eral long-distance pictures of the resting animals, when 

 they suddenly arose, apparently without any cause. 

 The nearer animal, a cow rhinoceros, moved her head 

 to and fro, scented us, and rushed, her head erect, ac- 

 companied by the bull, towards us. I quickly handed 



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