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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l 



witted beasts, and spent an hour cautiously manceuvering and taking 

 photos. He got several photos of the cow and calf lying under the 

 tree. Then something, probably the click of the camera rendered 

 them uneasy and they stood up. Soon the calf lay down again, while 

 the cow continued standing on the other side of the tree, her head 

 held down, the muzzle almost touching the ground, according .to the 

 custom of this species. After taking one or two more pictures Kermit 

 edged in, so as to get better ones. Gradually the cow grew alarmed. 

 She raised her head, as these animals always do when interested or 

 excited, twisted her tail into a tight knot, and walked out from under 

 the tree, followed by the calf ; she and the calf stood stern to stern for 

 a few seconds, and Kermit took another photo. By this time the cow 

 had become both puzzled and irritated. Even with her dim eyes she 

 could make out the men and the camera, and once or twice she 

 threatened a charge, but thought better of it. Then she began to 

 move off ; but suddenly wheeled and charged, this time bent on mis- 

 chief. She came on at a slashing trot, gradually increasing her pace, 

 the huge, square lips shaking from side to side. Hoping that she 

 would turn Kermit shouted loudly and waited before firing until she 

 was only ten yards off. Then with the Winchester, he put a bullet in 

 between her neck and shoulder, a mortal wound. She halted and 

 half wheeled, and Grogan gave her right and left, Kermit putting in 

 a couple of additional bullets as she" went off. A couple of hundred 

 yards away she fell, rose again, staggered, fell again, and died. The 

 calf, which was old enough to shift for itself, refused to leave the 

 body, although Kermit and Grogan pelted it with sticks and clods. 

 Finally a shot through the flesh of the buttocks sent it off in frantic 

 haste. Kermit had only killed the cow because it was absolutely 

 necessary in order to avoid an accident, and he was sorry for the 

 necessity; but I was not, for it was a very fine specimen, with the 

 front horn thirty-one inches long ; being longer than any other we had 

 gotten. The second horn was compressed laterally, exactly as with 

 many black rhinos (although it is sometimes stated that this does not 

 occur in the case of the white rhino). We preserved the head-skin 

 and skull for the National Museum. 



" The flesh of this rhino, especially the hump, proved excellent. 

 It is a singular thing that scientific writers seem almost to have over- 

 looked, and never lay any stress upon, the existence of this neck 

 hump. It is on the neck, forward of .the long dorsal vertebra, and is 

 very conspicuous in the living animal ; and I am inclined to think that 

 some inches of the exceptional height measurements attributed to 



