342 WILD ANIMALS. 



tossed in tlie air. My friend was insensible for some time, and 

 on recovering found large wounds on the thigli and body. I saw 

 that on the former part, still open, and five inches long." 



The Hon. W. H. Drummond ' states that " sufficient anecdotes 

 of the ferocity, chronic bad temper, and cunning of B.bicornis might 

 be related of themselves to fill a volume. In most, if not all, cases 

 they will at once charge on getting the wind of a human being, 

 and if they cross his track they will often follow it up like a dog, 

 making none of the puffing sound natural to them when angry, 

 till they absolutely see him. . . . They will wait with the utmost 

 patience concealed in thick jungle, until you almost touch them, 

 and then rush out at you. When they do catch an unfortunate 

 being they knock him down and knead him with their feet, return- 

 ing again and again, until nothing but a shapeless mass remains, 

 uttering all the day their shrill squeal of rage. This I once saw 

 myself." He, together with three native hunters and his gun- 

 bearer, came across a rhinoceros, which he wounded in the shoulder, 

 and then sprang away from the infuriated animal into a tree. 

 His unlucky companion came running towards the shots, and 

 absolutely met the creature face to face; "he at once fired and 

 turned to run, but it was too late, and he was caught on the spot, 

 thrown up with a single toss, which must probably have stunned 

 him, and was then trampled out of all semblance to humanity by 

 the bloodthirsty brute." 



Sir Samuel Baker also describes this animal as being exceed- 

 ingly vicious : " It is one of the very few animals that will generally 

 assume the offensive ; it considers all creatures to be enemies, and 

 although it is not acute in either sight or hearing, it possesses so 

 wonderful a power of scent that it will detect a stranger at a dis- 

 tance of five or .six hundred yards should the wind be favourable. 



" I have observed that a rhinoceros will generally charge down 

 upon the object that it smells, but does not see ; thus, when the 

 animal is concealed either in high grass or thick jungle, should it 

 scent a man who may be passing unseen to windward, it will 

 rush down furiously upon the object it has winded with three 

 loud whiffs, resembling a jet of steam from a safety-valve. As it 

 " " The Large Game and ISTatuial History of South and South-East Africa," 1875. 



