44 Great and Small Game of Africa 



not belong to any distinct species, nor come from any particular region. 

 In proof of this contention I may mention that I have a 40-inch horn, 

 the owner of which I myself shot at the northern base of the Jambeni 

 Range (near Kenia), in a neighbourhood where I hunted a great deal, and 

 saw great numbers of rhinos and shot a good many. The vast majority 

 have quite short horns— under a foot — and anything over 18 inches is 

 uncommon, while a length of 30 inches or upwards is extremely rare. 



I believe that rhinoceroses are more numerous in the part of Africa of 

 which I am writing than in any other. In some places they are very 

 common ; so much so, that one may often see many in one day, where the 

 country is sufficiently open for it to be possible to do so, while merely 

 travelling through it. For they do not confine themselves to thick bush, 

 as is the usual habit of elephants ; nor, except where much persecuted by 

 natives, are they so careful to conceal themselves during the day-time. 

 Moreover, though probably in the aggregate less numerous than those 

 animals, they live scattered over the country in pairs or singly, sometimes 

 three, and rarely four being found together, but never more ; and as they 

 keep pretty much, generally speaking, to the particular area embracing 

 their own haunts, and do not migrate from one district to another, as do 

 elephants, they are commonly more in evidence than are these latter. 



It is a mistake to suppose, as is sometimes assumed, that the rhinoceros 

 has any tendency to semi-aquatic habits. A wet climate disagrees with 

 him, and during the rains he is always in poor condition, and generally has 

 sores on his body. I believe this to be the reason that there are no 

 rhinoceroses in West Central Africa and that they are much scarcer in the 

 parts of East Africa where the rainfall is greater. The dry, barren wastes 

 of British East Africa seem to suit them best ; here they are equally at 

 home in the dense scrub, such as that which borders the Tana River 

 (where they are very numerous), and in the open, arid plains of Masailand 

 or Leikipia. They are also sometimes met with in the forests, on the 



