66 THE RHINOCEROS 



owes his life. As a general rule he avoids swamps, 

 preferring dry, somewhat elevated tablelands, 

 or belts of thorny jungle at the foot of a mountain 

 range. Of extremely regular habits, he drinks 

 before dawn and after sunset, frequenting as a 

 rule the same watering-places. After the morning 

 drink he feeds until as late as eight or nine o'clock, 

 or on wet or cloudy mornings somewhat later, 

 and then, entering some dense jungle or thorny 

 belt, he proceeds to take his midday siesta. In 

 spite of this usual practice, however, I have 

 seen rhinoceros lying asleep, stern on to the 

 wind, under the shelter of a tree in open grass 

 country as late as noon. Contrary to the 

 universal habit of charging on scent with which 

 these animals are usually credited, in the case 

 I am referring to the animal jumped up and 

 trotted briskly away down wind, his head and 

 tail in the air, without any hostile demonstration 

 whatsoever. 



The favourite food of these beasts consists 

 of the lower shoots and foliage of various trees 

 and shrubs. Great predilection is displayed, in 

 portions of the country where it occurs, for a 

 kind of thorny acacia ; he also devours certain 

 roots, and a low-growing ground-plant found 

 on wide, treeless plains. Acacias, however, often 

 denote the presence of rhinoceros, exhibiting 

 clean-cut depredations where the powerful, 

 scissor-like teeth and prehensile lips have pro- 

 duced a topiary effect similar to that which 

 would have followed the application of a pair 

 of gardener's shears. With curious regularity. 



