238 Mr. E. Blytli on the different Animals known as Wild Asses. 



voice of the Ghor-khur which he described. Again, M. Hue 

 remarks of the Kyang' s voice, that " le hennissement qu'ils font 

 entendre est vibrant, clair et sonore*/" On the other hand, 

 Moorcroft asserts that "his cry is more like braying than neigh- 

 iugt;" and in an admirable letter, signed "Norman Leslie," 

 which appeared in a late No. of the ' Friend of India ' news- 

 paper, giving an account of a Tibetan tour and of the sport 

 obtained in the course of it (including the " bagging " of a 

 noble specimen of the wild Yak), the following passage occurs 

 relative to the Kyang, which is well worthy of citation : — 



"As the spectator stands on the elevated land by the water- 

 shed, he sees to the north the course of the Sutlej running from 

 cast to west through a table-land which is 14,000 feet high and 

 intersected with ravines ; the Himalayas to the south look but 

 an ordinary range of hills, scarcely so elevated in appearance as 

 the range beyond the Sutlej which bounds the view, and in 

 which to the eastward the peak of Kylas rises conspicuous. On 

 the plains between the ravines herds of Kyang feed ; they are 

 more asinine than equine in appearance, are of a light red colour, 

 with white belly and legs, and have the hog-mane stripe down 

 the back, and tail of an ass; the head is disproportionately 

 large ; and they bray instead of neighing." 



I have also been assured by actual observers, familiar with 

 the voice of the Kyang, that it is " as much like neighing as 

 braying ; w but this I do not comprehend. It must surely be 

 either one or the other. A neigh is a tremulous expiration only; 

 a bray consists of alternate expirations and inspirations. And 

 there can be little doubt that the Kyang will prove to resemble 

 the other asinine quadrupeds in braying and not neighing, 

 notwithstanding the highly respected testimony of Major 

 Cunningham J. 



The resemblance of the two animals is indeed exceedingly close, 

 again notwithstanding the assertion to the contrary by Major 

 Cunningham, Dr. Hooker, and others — greater even than that 

 of either of them to the Hemippus, which has a conspicuously 

 smaller head and shorter ears. The size and figure of the two 



* Souvenirs d'un Voyage dans la Tatarie, le Thibet, et la Chine, ii. 221 . 



f Mooreroft's Travels, i. 443. 



% I have never heard the voice of the Quagga from which that species 

 derives its name. That of the Ghor-khur is considered by Major Tytler to 

 resemble exceedingly the cry of a mule. The truth might, indeed, be ana- 

 tomically determined. Thus Cuvier remarks of the Ass : " Sa voix rauque 

 (appelee braire) tient a deux petites cavites particulieres du fond de son 

 larynx." (R. A. i. 253.) Pennant, following Pallas, remarks of the Tshiggetai, 

 that " their neighing is deeper and louder than that of the Horse," — a de- 

 scription which most assuredly cannot be reconciled with the shrieking 

 bray of the Ghor-khur. 



