The Black Rhinoceros 



39 



is a puzzle to know how they support their huge bulk on the poor feed 

 afforded by the sparse, scrubby bush in many localities. In cold weather, 

 and during the dry season, they often get up and feed at once, not visiting 

 the water till midnight or later, this being their only drink for the day ; 

 but in hot weather they pay a second visit, at dawn, to the water, when, 

 it a mud hole is to be found, they wallow as well — a necessary performance 

 for this tick-infested pachyderm. They then seek their mid-day resting- 

 place, seldom moving about after 9 or 10 a.m., except in the wet season, 

 when I have seen them browsing throughout the day. They feed entirely 

 upon the astringent leaves of shrubs and bushes, roots, and the leaves and 

 twigs of the thorny acacias. When eating, they make a loud champing 

 noise with their jaws. The black rhino often deposits his dung— which is 

 dark red-brown in colour — in saucer-like hollows which he scoops out under 

 a bush or tree, and invariably scatters it about afterwards with his horn. 

 These spots are regularly visited — not unfrequently by other animals — till a 

 great pile has been collected. Tracks lead from one such " dumping-ground " 

 to another, and deep furrows are ploughed up around them, made, I think, 

 as often by their feet as their horns. They often make crescent-shaped 

 furrows also, in the ground, on alternate sides as they walk along. Rhino 

 almost invariably lie with their sterns to the wind, and, when disturbed, go 

 off at a slinging trot up wind, with their tails screwed up over their backs ; 

 but, if suddenly alarmed, or closely pursued, they break into a gallop which 

 only a good horse can keep up with, but which a rhino can sustain for a 

 long distance. Though they usually run up wind, yet, when wounded, 

 or conscious of pursuit, they hold on down wind everlastingly. I am 

 unable to offer reliable information as to their breeding habits. I have 

 seen a rhino calf about fourteen days old on October 28, and another on 

 November 2, about a month old. On the other hand, my friend Mr. 

 J. J. Harrison shot a cow in October, which had a four or five months' old 

 calf with her, and I am inclined to think that they are usually born at the 



