i82 THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



occupy more of the body and head. In winter, 

 when it grows much longer and rougher, the coat 

 becomes more or less decidedly grey, and in one 

 race is distinctly mouse-grey, with sharply-defined 

 white areas. 



With such a wide geographical distribution, 

 it is not surprising to find that the species is divis- 

 ible into a number of more or less well-defined 

 local races. One of the best-known of these is 

 the Indian ghor-khar {^E. onager indicus) of the 

 desert districts of Sind, Cutch, Baluchistan, Eastern 

 Persia, Afghanistan, and thence as far north as 

 Bokhara, which is stated to attain a height of ii^ 

 hands, and comes nearest to the chigetai. In 

 Baluchistan the ghor-khar is most abundant near 

 Mithankot, on the Punjab frontier. These dis- 

 tricts lie to the west of the Indus ; to the east 

 of that river the chief districts frequented by this 

 animal are Bikanir, Jeysulmere, and the saline 

 tract known as the Rann of Cutch. With a straight 

 facial profile, this ghor-khar has the general colour 

 of the upper-parts sandy in summer, with the 

 light band on each side of the dorsal stripe narrow, 

 ill-defined, and whitey brown, and the white on 

 the rump and thighs not pure. The broad dorsal 

 stripe does not reach as far as the tail-tuft in the 

 Indian representatives of this race, although it is 

 stated to do so in Persian examples. 



The second race,^^'. o. cas^aneus{p\. xv. fig. 2), is at 



