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Show 1876.] HON. W. DRUMMOND ON AFRICAN RHINOCEROSES. 109 pressing even feelings so violent as pain, fear, anger, and solicitude for their young. But that the feeling exists at times in all I am pretty sure, even in so melancholy a creature as the Heron. Probably the concert-screaming of Foxes and Monkeys and many other animals, the pretty "showing-off" of Jacanas and other birds, and the aerial vagaries of Snipes, accompanied by peculiar sounds called "bleating" or "drumming," and a hundred more strange performances are due to the same cause. 5. On the African Rhinoceroses. By the Hon. W. H. DRUMMOND. [Received December 20, 1875.] I believe that at present naturalists have arrived at no decided as to the number of species of Rhinoceros inhabiting Africa ; and as I have had some practical experience on the subject I beg leave to offer these few remarks for their consideration. As far as m y own experience and the inquiries I have made of natives well acquainted with the facts, and of European travellers and hunters who were equally qualified to offer an opinion, have gone, I believe, in accordance with the recorded opinions of most travellers and sportsmen who have given any attention to the subject, that there are four distinct species; while if R. oswellii be not merely a variety of R. simus, as I am inclined to think it is, it would follow that there was one more. These I would class as follows :-R. simus, the " Mohohu " of the Bechuanas, and the " Umkave " or " U m - kombewoquobo " of the Amazulu, Amatabili, aud A m a Tonga tribes ; R. keitloa, the Keitloa of the west, and Umkombe Tovote of the east; R. bicornis major, the greater black species, known as the Kulumane on the eastern side, while in South Central Africa (I mean the country north of the Transvaal Republic, and south of the Zambesi) it is, I believe, known as the " Borele ;" and R. bicornis minor, the small black species, known up to the Limpopo as the " Upetyane," and among the Dutch republics to the north as the "Klin rhinaster." To these must, I suppose, be added R. oswelli, or the " Kabaoba," until we are in a position to prove conclusively that it is merely a variety, as I think, for reasons hereafter to be stated, will ultimately prove to be the case. Of the above, R. simus and R. oswellii are those generally known as the "white," while R. keitloa, R. bicornis major, and R. bicornis minor are called the " black ;" and before proceeding further I should like to say a few words about the nomenclature I have made use of, and which (with the exception of the introduction of what I believe to be a distinct species, which for want of a better name I have called R. bicornis minor, the Small Black Rhinoceros or Upetyane) is the nomenclature I believe to be in general use. The distinction, however, of black and white seems to me misleading and misapplied, all Rhinoceroses being of the same colour, namely a peculiar shade |
