50 



ZEBRAS, QUAGGAS, AND ASSES 



Grevy's zebra is commonly seen in company with the beisa oryx, 

 both animals frequenting the same class of country. The difference 

 in the size and shape of the hoof between this zebra and the bonte- 

 quagga is very marked, the horse-like spoor of the present species 

 being totally distinct from the donkey-shaped footprints of the other. 

 In stony country the soles of an old individual's hoofs are sometimes 

 worn almost quite flat, frog and all. The species is the largest of all 



Fig. i6. — A Herd uf Grevy's Zebras, near the south end of Lake Rudoh. 



the zebra group, standing from about 4 feet 9^ to 4 feet i i inches at 

 the shoulder. 



In Somaliland, according to Col. H. G. C. Swayne, the localities 

 which these zebras seem to prefer in Ogaden are low plateaus, some 

 2500 feet above sea-level, the sides of which fall in broken ravines to the 

 river-valleys. On these plateaus is a powdery red surface-soil producing 

 a rich pasture, with occasional outcrops of rock, and stunted thorn- 

 forest growing in scattered clumps. The zebras inhabiting this broken 

 hilly ground are met with in small droves of about half-a-dozen. The 



