418 



THE ODD-TOED ANIMALS. 



itself down, carrying its burden with it and biting 

 and kicking the while. Some people believe that its 

 delicate hearing is the cause of all this, as every 

 noise dazes and frightens it, though as a rule, it is 

 not timid, but only capricious. 



The Ass contents itself with the most indifferent 

 quality and the scantiest quantity of food. Grass 

 and hay from which a well-bred Cow would turn 

 with a snort expressive of disgust, and which a 

 Horse would disdain, are dainties to it, and it even 

 accepts thistles and thorny bushes and prickly herb- 

 age. It is only fastidious in the selection of its 

 drink; for it touches no turbid water. The liquid 

 may be salty or brackish, but it must be clear. In 

 traveling through deserts an Ass sometimes gives 

 its master a great deal of trouble, for in spite of the 

 greatest thirst it will not drink the roily water in 

 the leather water bottles. 



THE QUAGGA. — The south African animal shown in the picture is a very lively, fleet- 

 footed species of wild Horse. The picture very appropriately depicts it in company with the 

 Ostrich, fur these birds are frequently found in the society of a herd of Quaggas on the sultry 

 African plains. {Equus quagga.) 



Propagation of The young of the Ass are generally 

 Asses and born one, very rarely two, at a time, 

 Hybrids. anc ] are perfectly developed and able 

 to see, and the mother tenderly cares for them. After 

 five or six months the foal may be weaned, but it 

 continues to follow the mother on all her journeys 

 for a long time. It does not require any particular 

 care or attention from Man, even in early youth, but 

 contents itself with any food given it, just like its 

 parents. It is an exceedingly lively, active creature, 

 and vents the gaiety of its heart in the funniest 

 capers. In the second year the Ass is grown up, 

 but does not reach its full maturity until the third 

 year. It may attain quite a great age, even when 

 subject to hard toil; for there are instances on 

 record where Asses have lived to be forty or fifty 

 years old. 



From the earliest ages Horse and Ass have been 

 bred together, the result being a hybrid offspring 

 called a Mule, if the father belonged to the Ass tribe, 

 or a Hinny if the mother was of that species. Roth 

 partake more of their mother's form than ot their 



father's, while their traits resemble those of the 

 male progenitor. 



The Mule and The Mule (Equus in it/ us) attains 

 the Hin- nearly the physical proportions of 

 "</• the Horse, and resembles it some- 



what in appearance also, but differs from it by the 

 shape of the head, the length of the ears, the tail cov- 

 ered with short hair at its root, the thin, but power- 

 ful thighs, and the narrower hoofs, which show an 

 affinity to the Ass. The coloring, as a rule, is that 

 of the mother. It brays like its father. 



The Hinny {Equus hinnus) conserves the insignifi- 

 cant form, the small size and the long ears of its 

 mother, showing only the thinner and longer head, 

 the fuller thighs, the hairy tail and the neighing 

 voice of the Horse. From the mother it also in- 

 herits its laziness, besides its external appearance. 

 The newborn Mule foal is stronger and stands on 

 its legs much sooner than a young 

 Horse does; on the other hand the 

 period of its growth is much more 

 protracted. No Mule ought to be put 

 to work before it is four years old; 

 but to compensate for this delay, its 

 strength lasts into its twentieth and 

 thirtieth and sometimes to its fortieth 

 year. 



On account of their greater useful- 

 ness Mules are nearly exclusively 

 bred. Only in Spain and Abyssinia 

 did I see Hinnies; there seemed to be 

 no Mules there. The Mule combines 

 the good' qualities of both parents. 

 Its frugality and endurance, its gentle, 

 sure pace are inherited from the Ass; 

 its strength and courage can be traced 

 to its mother. In all mountainous 

 countries Mules are regarded as indis- 

 pensable; in South America they are 

 as important as the Camel to the 

 Arab. A good Mule carries a burden 

 of three hundred pounds and covers 

 a distance of from twelve and one- 

 half to seventeen and one-half miles 

 daily. At this rate of progress one 

 hardly perceives a decrease of power 

 after a quite prolonged journey, even 

 when its food is but scarce and so bad 

 that a Horse would not eat it at all. 

 Even in the most recent times it has repeatedly 

 been asserted that Mules or Hinnies are sterile. This 

 is not always the case, however. Instances are on 

 record dating from the remotest antiquity, where 

 crosses between Ass and Horse gave birth to young 

 in their turn. Several observations of more recent 

 times also put the capability of reproduction of the 

 Mule beyond doubt; thus Mules have propagated 

 themselves to the second generation in the Jardin 

 d' acclimation in Paris, within the last two decades. 



STRIPED HORSE OR ZEBRA GROUP. 



An old Latin author relates how in the year 21 1 

 Caracalla, besides fighting with a Tiger, Elephant 

 and Rhinoceros, also had a Hippotigris brought for- 

 ward, which he killed with his own hands. There is 

 hardly a doubt that the author meant by "Tiger- 

 Horse" one kind of the striped African wild Horses. 

 Five species of striped Horses have been classified, 

 but whether this classification has a justifiable foun- 

 dation is an open question, for the points of differ- 

 ence are, in some cases, very slight. 



