THE ZEBRA. 325 



Of all the banded Equidae, the Cape Zebra has 

 the greatest external resemblance of form to the 

 Hemionus, though the head is shorter and the neck 

 fuller. In order to avoid confusion, it may be ne- 

 cessary to point out the differences between the 

 South African banded species somewhat more in 

 detail than was necessary in the description of the 

 horse and asinine groups. 



The Zebra, wilde paard and wilden esel of the 

 Cape colonists, is about twelve hands high at the 

 shoulder, and above double in extreme length. In 

 shape the animal is light, symmetrical, the limbs 

 slender, and hoof narrow, though rounded forward ; 

 the head is light, the ears rather long, and much 

 more open than in the ass ; the neck full, with the 

 skin under the throat lax ; the tail asinine, about 

 sixteen inches long, with a tuft of hair at the tip ; 

 the ground colour of the coat is white, sometimes 

 slightly tinged with yellow ; and what distinguishes 

 the species from all others is, that, leaving only the 

 belly and inside of the thighs and upper arms par- 

 tially unpainted, it is cross-barred with black over 

 the head, neck, body, and limbs to the hoofs, having 

 regular distinct nearly undivided bands in the male, 

 and in the female similar bands of a less intense, or 

 rather brownish colour ; the region around the nos- 

 trils is bay, darkening to black towards the mouth ; 

 over the head there are numerous equidistant nar- 

 row streaks running down the chaffron to the orbits, 

 around them,- and again others forming curves on 

 the cheeks ; from the ridge of the neck downwards 



