1876.] DISTRIBUTION OF SOUTH-AFRICAN MAMMALS. 281 



si?nus, mentions having seen eighty of these animals in a day's 

 march ; and on one occasion in the space of half a mile he saw 

 twenty-two and had to kill four in self-defence. A friend of mine 

 whom I met on his way down from the Zambesi, told me he had 

 only seen five, all R. sirnus, and all of which he secured. 



At one time it was not at all uncommon to see R. simus with the 

 anterior horn close on 3 feet and upwards in length ; now, however, 

 such animals are rare, most likely from the animal being shot down 

 before it arrived at its full size. The dung of the black and white 

 species differ materially ; for whereas that of the former is light- 

 coloured, more resembling that of an Elephant, that of the latter is 

 very dark and much softer : thus a hunter, should he not be ex- 

 perienced enough in " spooring" to know which species he was after, 

 would immediately do so on seeing the dung. Each species of Rhi- 

 noceros drinks every night, as may be seen by going in the morning 

 to a waterhole, where their fresh spoor may be found, and the water 

 is generally churned up into a filthy mass of mud. After leaving the 

 water they go a long distance in Indian file should there be two or 

 three together, when they spread out and begin to feed. Having 

 had sight, by studying the wind and quietly (for a Rhinoceros is 

 very quick at hearing) placing one's self near the line in which they 

 are advancing, one may get an easy shot at any distance. 



Nearly every Rhinoceros is accompanied by a few individuals of 

 Buphaga africana, which rid it of its parasites and give it timely 

 warning of danger. When the animal runs, these birds accompany it, 

 hovering over it like flies above a horse's head, uttering a note some- 

 thing like chirri-chirri-chit-chirri all the time. The White Rhi- 

 noceros may often be found standing under a tree in the open plains ; 

 and at such places the dung collects into enormous masses, showing 

 that the beast comes to the same tree day after day ; when the mass 

 gets very high the animal levels it with its horn. The Boreli (R. 

 bicornis) always lives in the bush, and is one of the few animals that 

 will charge and hunt a man unprovoked ; this species often has a sore 

 place behind the shoulder, which is supposed by the natives to be one 

 of the causes of its savageness. R. keitloa is generally known to 

 the hunters by the name of the Blue Rhinoceros. 



4. Equus quagga. (The Quagga.) 



The animal commonly so called, is Burchell's Zebra ; the true 

 Quagga I never saw, though Harris mentions it as occurring in great 

 herds, but only to the south of the Vaal river. Whether, since his 

 time, it has become extinct or not is a question ; but the few ani- 

 mals of this genus that were seen on the open plains were all clearly 

 Burchell's Zebra. Some few years ago the three species of this genus 

 were in little repute for their skins as compared with the Wilde- 

 beest and Blessbok ; but of late years it has been discovered that 

 they are of great use for, I believe, connecting-bands for machinery; 

 at any rate their value increased so much that they have been shot 

 down, until you may go for a week through the " High Veldt " and 

 not see one, although there will be thousands of other animals. 



