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Show 1 10 HON. W. DRUMMOND ON AFRICAN RHINOCEROSES. [Jan. 18, of brown, or, if any difference does exist, it being in R. bicornis minor possessing a tinge of red. That to different observers, and in different localities, they do appear to be of different colours (Baldwin mentions a blue kind) is undoubted ; but, except any slight variation that may locally exist, from the animal, as in Darwin's theory of protective resemblance, conforming to the prevailing colour of the district it inhabits, all such cases may be referred to outward circumstances, such as the position of the sun, or the kind of m ud they may have been rolling in last, and partly, no doubt, to the age and sex of the animal. In exemplification of this, I may mention that I have watched a bull of R. simus trotting past m e in the full glare of the midday sun, and it has appeared to m e almost white ; while after following the same animal up, and finding it feeding with the long shadows of evening on it, its colour has then seemed to be, as it really is, a deep brown. It may also be worthy of notice that no system seems to have been pursued in giving the scientific names under which these species are known. R. simus, the snub- or square-nosed Rhinoceros, is appropriate enough, as referring to one of its most distinctive points, while R. oswelli is named after the gentleman who discovered it; but the term bicornis, though no doubt applicable, would be equally so to every one of the five species, and would be most especially so to R. keitloa, in which the two horns are of almost equal length, while its present name, keitloa, being merely a native and local designation, conveys nothing to those unacquainted with the language. R. simus, the common white Rhinoceros, requires but little description from me, being, as we all know, a well-recognized species. It is the greatest in size, and is remarkable for the length the front horn grows to, as well as its gentle and inoffensive disposition. Its food is, as far as m y experience goes, solely grass. The country over which I can personally speak as to its existence, extends from Zululand up to the Limpopo ; from there it incontrovertibly reaches the Zambesi; while Speke mentions it in Karagweh, and Andersson between Walwich Bay and Lake Ngami and in Ovampoland. Sir Samuel Baker tells me that he saw at Khartoum a horn "immensely thick at the base, and about 2\ feet long, which came from the countries west of the Nile;" and though for some reason which he did not state he thinks it was not the horn of a " White Rhinoceros," yet, unless we conclude that a species exists of which we have hitherto heard nothing, it is justifiable to believe it to be a specimen of either JR. simus or R. oswelli; and as the habitat of the latter is distinctly circumscribed, the balance of evidence lies on the side of its having been the former. It may therefore be generally stated, subject to correction, that R. simus is common to the south of the Zambesi; and while undoubtedly it exists to the north of it, though not I think in large numbers, it has never been seen in any part of Northern Africa. It is, however, worthy of remembrance that the value of its horn in those parts of Africa where it is rare or not found is great; while to the south, where it is plentiful, the value is comparatively small. |
