THE GAME OF THE PLAINS 607 



narrow, dirty white, or very light fawn, margin. The 

 tail, with its black end-tassel, is very mule-like ; in fact, 

 in its whole appearance the animal resembles a mule 

 more than a donkey. The ears are short and horse-like, 

 with dark-brown tips and thickly-haired edges ; the 

 upper portion of the face is of a dark, sandy fawn, 

 merging into an almost white nose ; the throat and 

 chest are " isabelline." The nose of the kulon is only 

 very slightly rounded in profile. 



On comparing one of my specimens with an adult 

 Tibetan kiang {Equus hemionus kiang), in summer 

 coat, in the possession of the British Museum, I found 

 several marked differences, as might be expected from 

 the different environment of the two animals. The 

 kiang is never found below an altitude of 15,000 ft., 

 while the kulon of Mongolia rarely reaches an altitude 

 of 3,000 ft., and, at any rate in Dzungaria and portions 

 of Russian Turkestan, is found at an altitude of only 

 700 ft. above sea-level. This accounts for the former 

 carrying a much rougher and more wavy coat than the 

 latter. The general body-colour of a kiang is " rufus " 

 chestnut instead of the pale fawn of the more desert- 

 loving kulon ; its dorsal stripe is also less pronounced 

 and without any light margin. But the greatest differ- 

 ence of all is that, in the kiang, the whole of the legs are 

 white, while in the kulon they are light sandy fawn, 

 right down to the hoof. 



My specimens are undoubtedly Equus hemionus 

 typicus, called by Mongols ** Chigetai " and by Turki 

 people "kulon." Its extreme eastern distribution is 

 at present imperfectly known ; Sir Francis Young- 

 husband, in his journey across the Northern Gobi, men- 

 tions seeing kulon in the Gobi at the extreme eastern 

 II — 19 



