ELEPHANT, TAPIR, HYRAX, RHINOCEROS 165 
Less than a hundred years ago the range of this fast-disappearing species extended from the 
northwestern districts of the Cape Colony to Abyssinia, and at that time it must have been plentiful 
over almost the whole of the intervening country. It never seems to have penetrated into the equa- 
torial forest regions of West Central Africa, where the climate is probably too damp to suit its require- 
ments ; for both species of African rhinoceros appear to like a dry climate,and not to object to very 
arid surroundings. At the same time they never wander many miles froma river or pool, and drink 
regularly every night, and in hot weather probably very often a second time in the early morning. 
In Southern Africa the black rhinoceros appears to attain to a larger size than in the coun- 
tries farther north. To the south of the Zambesi large bulls of this species will stand 5 feet 8 
inches at the shoulder; whilst the height of an adult bull, as taken by Mr. F. Jackson at 
Naivasha, in East Africa, was 5 feet 5 inches ; and Mr. A. H. Neumann gives the standing height of 
another adult bull shot by himself still farther north, near Lake Rudolph, as only 4 feet 9 inches. 
It is now gener- 
ally recognised that 
there is but one species 
of prehensile-lipped 
rhinoceros in Africa, 
though the horns, and 
especially the hinder 
one, differ in length 
and shape to such an 
extent that it was long hs aif Nay 
thought that there i PSE, 
were at least two 
distinct species, those 
with both horns of 
equal or nearly equal 
length having been 
distinguished from the 
more common form, 
with a comparatively 
short second horn, as Lk 
the KeE:tTLoa, this Photo by Norman B. Smith, Esq. 
being the name in BLACK AFRICAN RHINOCEROS 
the Sechuana dialect This photograph, taken by a sportsman in Africa, shows a charging rbinoceros just before it was shot 
for a prehensile-lipped 
rhinoceros with horns of equal length. Speaking on this subject, Mr. A. H. Neumann, who has had 
great experience with the black rhinoceros in East Africa, writes: « Length of horn is a purely 
fortuitous individual trait ; and the extremely long horns (mostly of females) which have occasionally 
been obtained from traders on the east coast, and brought home, are merely exceptionally fine 
specimens, selected from among large numbers brought to the coast (the bulk of which, I am told, 
go to China to be ground up into medicine), and do 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.” The black rhinoceros, 
I believe, never eats grass, but browses on the young shoots of trees and bushes, which are often 
quite leafless and seem excessively dry. In this way it chews up and swallows great quantities 
of dry-looking twigs, much of which passes through its stomach undigested. 
