208 THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



produced when the animal is lying down, by the 

 white legs being tucked away along the sides of the 

 white belly. The absence of striping on the hind 

 half of the body and limbs of the quagga and 

 southern bontequagga thus appears to be an ac- 

 quired character developed for the special purpose 

 of rendering these animals inconspicuous on the 

 sun-scorched and trackless veldt and karru which 

 form their home. 



On the other hand, many naturalist-sportsmen 

 like Mr. Selous, Captain Stigand, and Mr. 

 Roosevelt, who have seen zebras and bontequaggas 

 in their native haunts, emphatically refuse to be- 

 lieve in the theory of the protective nature of their 

 colouring. Mr. Roosevelt, 1 for instance, expresses 

 himself as follows on this subject : 



" The zebra has also, very absurdly, been taken 

 as an example of 'concealing coloration.' ... As 

 a matter of fact, it is not concealing, it is highly 

 advertising, when close at hand ; but when over 

 three or four hundred yards off the black and white 

 stripes merge together, and the coat becomes mono- 

 coloured, but catches the sunlight in such shape 

 as still to render the bearer conspicuous. The 

 narrow stripes of the big Grevy's zebra fade 

 together at a shorter distance than is the case with 

 the broader stripes of the smaller zebra ; the broad 



1 " Revealing and Concealing Coloration of Birds and Mammals," 

 Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. xxx. p. 191, 1911. 



