34 THE PENYCUIK EXPERIMENTS. 



me from the fii'st has been his alertness and the expedition 

 with which he escapes from suspicious or unfamihar 

 objects. When quite young, if caught napping in the 

 paddock, the facility with which he, as it were, rolled on 

 to his feet and darted off was wonderful. The principal 

 enemy of the zebra seems to be the lion. To escape from 

 the lion, great and sustained speed is not so requisite as a 

 decided and rapid bound when the lion makes his spring, 

 or when he is accidentally met with in the veld. This 

 rapidity of getting out of the way has been strongly 

 inherited by all the hybrids. Zebras, as far as my experi- 

 ence goes, are difficult to handle, not so much because 

 they are vicious or intractable, as because they are afraid. 

 At any moment they may be seized by panic, — when they 

 imagine there is a lion in the path, — and, regardless of 

 consequences, rush, it may be, against a wall or a hedge, or 

 into a ditch, reins and bits counting for little or nothing. In 

 schooling the hybrids this habit will require to be allowed 

 for, and the tendency to bound or rush slowly combated. 

 As it has been completely overcome by careful training in 

 some zebras, there should be comparatively little difiiculty 

 in breaking the hybrids. As a matter of fact, Romulus 

 leads anywhere, is perfectly docile, allows his feet to be 

 trimmed and his teeth to be examined, and, when little 

 more than a year old, seemed quite willing to carry a small 

 boy on his back. 



I mentioned Mulatto is just under 13 hands, while the 

 zebra sire is nearly 12*3 hands. At birth (August 12th, 

 1896) Romulus measured 34^ in. (from the withers to the 

 ground); at two months 385 in.; at six months 43 in.; 

 and at twelve months 45i in. The rate of growth has 

 been extremely inconstant, e. g. from the 12th of February 

 to the 12th of April, 1897, he only increased half an inch,* 

 and from the 12th of June, 1897, to the 12th of September, 

 1897, he only increased three-quarters of an inch ; t but 



* He was weaned on the 14tli of February, and fretted not a little for 

 some time after. 



■\ During the greater part of this period he was siiedding his old and 

 growing a new coat. 



