THE WHITE OR SQUARE -MOUTHED RHINOCEROS 
rhinoceroses still surviving to-day, both in Southern and Central Africa, 
are in British territory — unless, indeed, there are a few in the French 
Congo — it is to be hoped that they will be afforded a measure of protection 
which will save them for a long time to come from final extinction. 
In South Africa white rhinoceroses were accustomed to feed during the 
night and in the early morning and late evening, and lay asleep in the shade 
of trees or bushes during the heat of the day, looking for all the world like 
gigantic pigs. In that part of Africa I certainly thought that these animals 
were accustomed to drink regularly every evening, but those inhabiting 
Central Africa may be capable of going without water for a longer period, 
as when I was recently in the Bahr-el-Ghazal province, Captain Collum, 
with whom I was travelling, shot one of these animals near the well of 
Gemaiza, eighteen miles from Shambe, the nearest point on the Nile, as 
far as we could discover, where it could have got water. The white 
rhinoceros is a pure grass feeder, and where undisturbed was accustomed 
to deposit its dung day after day in the same place. Though very keen- 
scented and fairly quick of hearing, the eyesight of these animals always 
seemed to me to be extraordinarily dull. They were often warned of danger 
by the rhinoceros birds — Buphaga erythorhynca — which were accustomed to 
run all over their heads and bodies in search of ticks, and they would at 
once stand up and very soon run off when these birds showed any excite- 
ment, as they always did at the approach of human beings. Their pace was 
a long ground -covering trot, which soon left all pursuit from a man on 
foot far behind; but if chased on horseback, they could gallop at great 
speed for a considerable distance. In my experience, whether walking, 
trotting or galloping, these huge animals always held their great square 
noses close to the ground. When mortally wounded, they would often 
stand and beat their noses on the ground many times before falling down. 
This was indeed a piteous spectacle even to the eyes of a hungry hunter. 
White rhinoceroses, though they will quickly succumb to a shot through 
the heart or through both lungs, will travel very long distances before 
halting or lying down after having received anything but an absolutely 
mortal wound. They may be killed undoubtedly with small-bore rifles, 
but it would be a most unsportsmanlike proceeding on the part of anyone 
to risk wounding one of these rare and wonderful animals, and either a 
heavy cordite rifle ought to be used to secure a specimen or they should 
be left alone. 
D 
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