28 THE ASIATIC WILD ASS. 



find out what was going on, liaving come np behind and caused 

 the syce on the right to move his hand. The treatment under- 

 gone by the donkey, on whose back a syce is seated, ought to 

 be proof enough of her tameness, as her tail was held, not to 

 keep her quiet, but to show what could be done to her. This 

 particular donkey was ten months old when caught and fright- 

 fully wild ; she is now about two and a half years old.* 



" The engraving of the young Onager from the photograph 

 forwarded by Mr. Fraser S. Hore is good with the exception 

 of the legs and feet, which are made to look too coarse, the legs 

 and feet of the wild ass being particularly clean, neat, and well 

 formed. 



"The same horses which were used to ride down the wild asses 

 in the Runn have been used to ride down wolves and black 

 buck (A^itelope hezoartica) . 



" The information regarding the riding down of the wild asses 

 on the Runn of Kutch was given to me by a well-known 

 Kathiawar sportsman, the traffic manager of H.H. the Thakor 

 Sahib of Morvi's State Railway, who was out with the Thakor 

 Sahib on several occasions when they went after the Runn 

 donkeys, whose riding weight, however, prevented him from 

 being with the leaders in the runs when the Onagers were 

 captured." 



The supposed irreclaimable nature of the Onager is one 

 of those fables that too often pass current in zoology. 

 They descend from writer to writer, and are transmitted 

 from one volume into others. Even in as recent a volume 

 as "The Horse/^ by Sir W. H. Flower, we are told that 

 the Asiatic wild asses outstrip the fleetest horse in speed 

 and that none of them have ever been domesticated. 

 Scores of Indian officers must have known that the Onager 



* This photograpli showing the docility of these auimals is so 

 conclusive in its evidence, that I have had it accurately reproduced, 

 and have to express my deep obligation to Mr. J. L. Harrington for 

 the kindness he lias shown in forwarding it. 



