256 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



difference is to be found in the broader dark stripes (of which 

 there seem to be more in a given space), and a corresponding 

 decrease in the width of the intervening light intervals. The 

 stripes also seem to extend farther back on the body. 



But there is also a difference between quaggas of the type 

 of the one photographed by York and those figured by the 

 early writers, as exemplified by the plate in Colonel Hamilton 

 Smith's volume on horses in the " Naturalists' Library." In 

 the specimen there represented, which not improbably came 

 from Cape Colony, the head, neck, and forequarters are 

 marked by narrow black stripes on a chestnut ground. 

 The markings are, indeed, as Dr. von Lorenz remarks, just 

 the reverse of those of the Vienna specimen ; the British 

 Museum example and the one figured by York being in 

 some degree intermediate between these two extreme types. 



With some hesitation, Dr. von Lorenz suggests that there 

 may have been local races of the quagga, as there are of 

 Burchell's zebra. 



Even in the days of its abundance the quagga (which, 

 by the way, takes its name from its cry) had a comparatively 

 limited distribution, ranging from the Cape Colony up the 

 eastern side of Africa as far as the Vaal River, beyond 

 which it appears to have been unknown. In this respect 

 it closely resembled the white-tailed gnu, which, however, 

 is known to have crossed that river in one district. 

 Curiously enough, the two species lived in close comradeship, 

 and in the old days their vast herds formed a striking 

 feature in the landscape of the open plains of the Orange 

 River Colony. Both have now disappeared from the face 

 of the country, for the white-tailed gnu, if, indeed, any are 

 now left, only exists in a semi-domesticated state on a 

 few farms. 



Owing to its rank flavour, and especially its yellow fat, 



