RHINOCEROSES. 467 



This rhinoceros is exclusively confined to India, and at the 

 Distribution. . 



present day, according to Mr. Blanford, is almost restricted to the 



Assam plain, being rarely, if ever, found to the westward of the Tista River. 

 Twenty or thirty years ago, it was, however, still common in the so-called terai 

 country at the foot of the Sikhim Himalaya, while some years earlier it frequented 

 the sub-Himalayan districts of Nipal, and ranged as far west as Rohilcund ; while 

 the writer last quoted believes that, about the year 1850, it also occurred in the 

 grass-jungles of the Ganges valley at the north end of the Rahmahal Hills in 

 Bengal. In the early part of the sixteenth century it ranged over the Punjab as far 

 westwards as Peshawur ; and since its fossilised remains are found in the North- 

 West Provinces, the Narbada valley, and Madras, it may be inferred that the 

 Indian rhinoceros formerly ranged over the greater part of Peninsular India, in 

 localities suited to its habits. 



The Indian rhinoceros is a denizen of the great grass-iunp-les that 



Hibits Jo 



cover such a large portion of the plains of India, and from this 

 circumstance, coupled with the general resemblance of its molar teeth to those of 

 the African Burchell's rhinoceros, which is known to be a grass-eater, it may be 

 assumed that its food is chiefly grass. Regarding the density and height of these 

 jungles, General Kinloch writes that, " year after year, in the short space of two or 

 three months, these giant grasses shoot up to a height of from twenty to thirty feet, 

 forming, with the wild cardamum, various other broad-leaved plants, and numerous 

 creepers, a tangled cover which shelters the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the 

 buffalo, as effectually as a field of standing corn affords concealment to the 

 partridge or the quail. I have seen a line of about fifteen elephants beating a 

 strip of reeds not more than two hundred yards in width, and I could hardly 

 see the grass shake. There was not as much commotion or indication of what 

 was going on, as would be caused by a pack of beagles drawing a gorse-cover. 

 Runs or tunnels among the high reeds, like magnified ' meuses ' of hares and 

 rabbits, show that the same paths through the thick jungle are generally made 

 use of." 



The rhinoceros chiefly frequents such portions of these grass-jungles as are on 

 swampy ground ; and although it is in general a solitary animal, the writer just 

 quoted states that he has known half a dozen individuals roused from a belt of not 

 more than half a mile in length by three hundred or four hundred yards in width. 

 Like tapirs, the Indian rhinoceros is fond of a mud-bath. Although there are 

 many stories extant as to its ferocity, and more especially its enmity to the 

 elephant, it appears that this animal is generally quiet and harmless. Even when 

 wounded, according to Mr. Blanford, it is but seldom that it charges home ; but 

 when it does attack, the sharp lower tusks are used much after the same manner 

 as those of a wild boar. The only sound that this rhinoceros utters is a peculiar 

 grunt, which is repeated at frequent intervals during excitement. The usual gait 

 of this rhinoceros is a longf s"\Yin<nn<>- trot, but when disturbed, it can break into an 

 awkward but very rapid gallop. Only a single calf is produced at a birth, but 

 there is some uncertainty as to the length of the period of gestation, an old writer 

 stating that it is nine months, while a more recent authority affirms that it is 

 nearly or quite double as long. Since rhinoceroses, so far as we are aware, have 



