10 Q^U ADRUPEDS. 



dered as an animal generally barren, confequently, contrary to the order 

 of nature, who has confined fertility within certain bounds, that inter- 

 mixture of fpecies m'ght nor prevail, nor inftead of regular defcendants, 

 broods of miihapen forms and mannei-s« 



THE ZEBRA 



IS chiefly a native of the fouthern parts of Africa ; whole herds of 

 them feed in thofe extenfive plains that lie towards the Cape of 

 Good Hope. By their watchfulnefs they fuffer nothing to come near 

 them ; and by their fwiftnefs, they leave every purfuer far behind. 

 The zebra^ in (hape, refembies the mule rather than the horfe, or the 

 afs ; is rather lefs than the former, yen larger than the latter j its.jears 

 not fo long as the afs, nor fo fmall as the horfe. Lils;e the afs, its head 

 is large, its back ftraight, its legs finely placed, and its tail tufted at 

 the endj like the horfe, its fkin is fmooth and clofe, its hind quarters 

 round and flefhy. But the amazing regularity and elegance of its 

 colours is its greateft beauty. In the male, they are white and brown j 

 in the female, white and black, difpofed in alternate ftripes over the 

 yhole body, like fo many ribbands, narrow, parallel, and exadlly fepa- 

 rated from each other ; every ftripe is perfedly diftinft, and preferves 

 its colour round the body (or the limbV without diminution. The 

 head, body, thighs, legs, tail, and ears, are thus beautifully flreaked. 



The head of the male zebra is flriped with bands of black and white, 

 which center in the forehead. The ears variegated with white and 

 dufky brown. The neck has broad ftripes of the fame dark brown 

 funning round it^ leaving narrow white ftripes between. The body is 

 ftriped acrofs the back with broad bands, leaving narrower fpaces of 

 white bctv^een them, ending in points at the fides of the belly, which 

 is white, except a black line pedlinated on each fide, from between the 

 fore-legs, along the middle of the belly, two thirds of its length. 

 There is a line of feparation between the trunk of the body and the 

 hinder quarters, on each fide ; behind which, on the rump, is a plat 

 of narrow ftripe , joined together, by a ftripe down the middle, to the 

 pnd of the tail. The colours differ in the female j the ftripes vary 

 fometimes, but are always equally diftind j the hair equally fmooth 



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