110 HON. W. DRUMMOND ON AFRICAN RHINOCEROSES. [Jail. 18, 



of brown, or, if any difference does exist, it being in R. bicornis 

 minor possessing a tinge of red. That to different observers, and in 

 different localities, they do appear to be of different colours (Baldwin 

 mentions a blue kind) is undoubted ; but, except any slight variation 

 that may locally exist, from the animal, as in Darwin's theory of 

 protective resemblance, conforming to the prevailing colour of the 

 district it inhabits, all such cases may be referred to outward cir- 

 cumstances, such as the position of the sun, or the kind of mud they 

 may have been rolling in last, and partly, no doubt, to the age and 

 sex of the animal. In exemplification of this, I may mention that I 

 have watched a bull of R. simus trotting past me in the full glare of 

 the midday sun, and it has appeared to me almost white ; while after 

 following the same animal up, and finding it feeding with the long 

 shadows of evening on it, its colour has then seemed to be, as it 

 really is, a deep brown. It may also be worthy of notice that no 

 svstem seems to have been pursued in giving the scientific names under 

 which these species are known. R. simus, the snub- or square-nosed 

 Rhinoceros, is appropriate enough, as referring to one of its most 

 distinctive points, while R. oswelli is named after the gentleman 

 who discovered it ; but the term bicornis, though no doubt appli- 

 cable, would be equally so to every one of the five species, and would 

 be most especially so to R. keitloa, in which the two horns are of 

 almost equal length, while its present name, keitloa, being merely a 

 native and local designation, conveys nothing to those unacquainted 

 with the language. 



R. simus, the common white Rhinoceros, requires but little de- 

 scription from me, being, as we all know, a well-recognized species. 

 It is the greatest in size, and is remarkable for the length the front 

 horn grows to, as well as its gentle and inoffensive disposition. Its 

 food is, as far as my experience goes, solely grass. The country 

 over which I can personally speak as to its existence, extends from 

 Zululand up to the Limpopo ; from there it incontrovertibly reaches 

 the Zambesi ; while Speke mentions it in Karagweh, and Andersson 

 between Walwich Bay and Lake Ngami and in Ovampoland. Sir 

 Samuel Baker tells me that he saw at Khartoum a horn "immensely 

 thick at the base, and about 2h feet long, which came from the 

 countries west of the Nile ;" and though for some reason which he 

 did not state he thinks it was not the horn of a " White Rhinoceros," 

 yet, unless we conclude that a species exists of which we have 

 hitherto heard nothing, it is justifiable to believe it to be a specimen 

 of either R. simus or R. oswelli ; and as the habitat of the latter is 

 distinctly circumscribed, the balance of evidence lies on the side of 

 its having been the former. It may therefore be generally stated, 

 subject to correction, that R. simus is common to the south of the 

 Zambesi ; and while undoubtedly it exists to the north of it, though 

 not I think in large numbers, it has never been seen in any part of 

 Northern Africa. It is, however, worthy of remembrance that the 

 value of its horn in those parts of Africa where it is rare or not found 

 is great ; while to the south, where it is plentiful, the value is com- 

 paratively small. 



