40 Great and Small Game of Africa 



end of the rainy season — the period of gestation being probably sixteen or 

 eighteen months. The flesh of a fat rhino is well tasted, though rather 

 coarse ; I do not like the liver. These animals are in best condition in the 

 autumn. 



Rhinos are such unwary beasts, and sleep so heavily, that it would be 

 most absurdly easy to stalk them, but for the tact that in South Africa 

 they are almost invariably attended by "rhinoceros birds" {Textor 

 erythrorhynchus), when great judgment and the utmost care is necessary to 

 avoid discovery. 1 In Central Africa I found they were far less seldom 

 attended by birds ; still, rhino often seem singularly restive and suspicious 

 when one is approaching them, even when there are no birds near them, 

 as though they knew instinctively that danger was threatening. Probably 

 their acute sense of hearing, which almost rivals that of scent, is the cause 

 of this. They are the easiest killed of all the larger game, yet, if not hit 

 properly, will give a deal of trouble to secure. Shot through heart or 

 lungs they succumb very quickly, though they seldom drop on the spot ; 

 but if shot through only one lung they will travel till doomsday, although 

 throwing gallons of blood from mouth and nostrils. I consider the neck- 

 shot the very best for a rhino, aiming about a foot behind, and a little 

 below the base of the ear ; the head-shot, 4 or 5 inches before the base of 

 the ear, towards the eye, is a certainty if the beast is quiescent. A mortally 

 wounded rhino will perform the most wonderful antics, spinning round 

 and round in a circle, his head in the centre, and his hind-quarters dancing 

 up and down in an extraordinary style. Usually this signifies impending 

 death, but not always. Frequently they pull themselves together again 

 after it and make a blind forward charge, generally in the direction in 

 which they are facing when they finish their performance. I was one even- 

 ing watching a track along which a bull and cow rhino with a calf used to 



1 A pair of good field-glasses will enable the stalker to ascertain if any birds arc present, before 



