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Mr. E. Blyth on the different Animals known as Wild Asses. 247 
try; but the peasants very seldom succeed in catching or de- 
stroying them. A mixed breed [!] is sometimes seen in the 
villages. From the description of the Arabs, I conceive that the 
Zebra [A. Burchellii] also exists in these deserts. The Nile Ass 
seems larger than the common one; but we were at too great a 
distance to observe them particularly. The peasants seldom 
chase them, but, with a good horse, it is not very difficult *.” 
Both “wild Asses” and “ Zebras” are noticed by Mr. W. C. 
Kirk, in his ‘ Report on the Route from Tajurra to Ankobar f.’ 
Riippell has determined this northern Zebra to be the A. Bur- 
chellit, or Dauw of the Cape colonists; the Equus zebra of 
Burchell, as distinguished from his E. montanus; and un- 
doubtedly the true Hippotigris of the ancients, if not also the 
original “ Zebra” of Pigafetta, from Congo t,—the wild Paard 
of the Dutch colonists, or “ Mountain Zebra” of Burchell, being 
the Equus or Asinus zebra of modern technical nomenclature. 
This | mention because the French zoologists, from Cuvier to 
M. Isidore St.-Hilaire§, persist in the mistake of identifying the 
“Zébre de montagne” with the Dauw or A. Burchellii. 
Bruce notices “ Zebras” as being ‘found in Abyssinia only 
in the south-west extremity of Kuora amid the Shangalla and 
Galla, in Narea and Caff, and in the mountains of Dyre and 
Tegla, and thence to the southward.” ‘“‘ Wild Asses, too,” he 
remarks, “ I have frequently seen alive, but never dead : in neck, 
head, face, and tail, very like ours, only their skins are streaked, 
not spotted!” Perhaps he alludes to occasional bars on the 
limbs, like the wavy lines on those of the Ghor-khur, which Bell 
seems also to refer to. The wild Ass of North Africa is not 
mentioned in Dr. Barth’s work; but at the Meeting of the 
British Association for 1858, M. R. Schlagintweit made some 
remarks relative to the Ghor-khur (as reported in the ‘ Athe- 
nzum’”), and stated that Dr. Barth had lately told him that, ac- 
cording to the description which he (M. R. Schlagintweit) had 
given him, “he thinks the Asses which he saw in Africa identical 
with the Ghor-khurs of Sindh and Beluchistan.” This can 
hardly be the case. And does the following notice refer to the 
ordinary wild Ass of North-east Africa? I very strongly suspect 
otherwise. Col. C. H. Smith remarks: “We have seen a pair 
of these animals brought from Cairo; they were equal in size 
to an ordinary mule, neatly if not elegantly formed, white in 
* Travels in Ethiopia, p. 41. 
+ Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc. xii. 234; and for another notice of an African 
wild Ass, ibid. x. 461. In the Narrative of Lander’s expedition (p. 571) a 
“wild Ass”’ is mentioned, whatever this may refer to. 
t Col. C. H. Smith considers this northern “ Zebra”’ to be distinct, and 
styles it Hippotigris antiquorum, but, I think, on very insufficient evidence. 
§ Comptes Rendus, 1855, p. 1215. 
