249 The White Rhinoceros in Zululand, 
I am disposed to think that the native report to the effect that the 
female rhinoceros of this species hides its young in dense cover for 
some time after birth may be true. Certainly I have never seen a 
very young calf, that is to say less than two to three months old. 
Careful observations lead to the conclusion that the young may be 
born at any time of the year, and that there is no particular calving 
season. 
It has always appeared to me that the female white rhinoceros evinces 
very little concern for its young after the latter is three months old or 
so, the concern seems mainly to be exercised by the young animal 
itself, and when danger has been located and the adult animals make 
a bolt for it, the ungainly youngster very promptly places itself in 
front of its mother, a position it retains, guided by the latter’s horn 
against its flank, no matter how intricate the twists and turns through 
the bush or how variously the pace may be accelerated or reduced. 
A brief reference to the native nomenclature of this rhinoceros may 
not be out of place. I have elsewhere shown that the word in general 
use in S.E. Africa for this creature is “‘ Umkombo” (or as pronounced, 
‘“’mkombo”) but that large adult males of the black species are 
frequently referred to by the same name. I have, however, been 
recently informed by Mr. Oswald Fynney, Resident Magistrate for the 
Ndwandwe Division of Zululand, a very clever native linguist, that 
when natives who know the white rhinoceros wish to refer to it ina 
manner which shall leave no doubt in the listener’s mind as to which 
species is indicated, they use the word ‘‘ Umkava,” usually abbreviated 
_ to “’mkava.” Personally, I have never heard this word used, even by 
the game-guards who have been in charge of the Mfolozi Reserve for 
years, but it is interesting to know that, if my memory serves me, the 
Matabili people call the animal ‘“’mkofo,” which bears distinct 
resemblance to ‘’mkava,” if it be taken into consideration that the 
relative pronunciations of the “f” and “v” 
are often difficult to determine. 
in the Bantu language 
