St Nicholas [serial] . but not enough room for arhinoceros. So, if the beast getsbad-tempered, when his keeper is:cleaning his room or making hisbed, the man can jump behind thescreen, and scoot, as the boyswould say, up the ladder. With-out some protection of the kindfew men could climb a ladder fastienough to get out of the reach of arhinoceros at their heels. In regard to the horn of this ani-!mal,—that formidable weapon of;which we have heard so much,—Iwould say that you must not ex-pect to see, on a rhinoceros in amenagerie, a horn such as you willfind in most of the pictures of theanimal
St Nicholas [serial] . but not enough room for arhinoceros. So, if the beast getsbad-tempered, when his keeper is:cleaning his room or making hisbed, the man can jump behind thescreen, and scoot, as the boyswould say, up the ladder. With-out some protection of the kindfew men could climb a ladder fastienough to get out of the reach of arhinoceros at their heels. In regard to the horn of this ani-!mal,—that formidable weapon of;which we have heard so much,—Iwould say that you must not ex-pect to see, on a rhinoceros in amenagerie, a horn such as you willfind in most of the pictures of theanimal. In captivity, the rhinoce-ros rubs his horn against all thestone walls or iron bars that he canreach, and so keeps it pretty wellworn down. It looks more like ahorny lump on his nose than any-thing else. I suppose it is thenatural business of a rhinocerosto work with his horn, just as agardener feels it his business towork with a spade or hoe, and if the animal cannothave succulent reeds and canes and young trees. THE RHINOCEROS. to rip and tear, he uses his horn on what he|can find, even if it be stone or iron. While l877-l A VILLAGE OF WILD BEASTS. 657 1 was watching him, he began banging his greathead against his iron bars, and the concussionseemed to shake the building. Bang! bang!bang! he went, like a great sledge-hammer, andif the bars had been no thicker than those whichconfined the lions and tigers, that rhinoceros would,have walked out of his cage and would probablyhave had a good time, strolling about the grounds,looking at the monkeys and the squirrels, so dif-ferent from himself. But of course I went to the bear-pits. These are i:hree large round pits, with stone walls and floors, lind quite deep. They are built in the side of a uill, so that visitors can go up the hill and look lown at the bears in the pits. In the middle of ? ;ach pit is the trunk of a stout tree with a good Innany short branches left on it, for the bears to 1 :limb up and get a better look
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
