314 



NATURAL HISTORJ. 



height, and is exceedingly swift and wary. The back is marked by a broad black line, but there is no 

 transverse bar across the shoulders ; it is probably the true Equus fomionus of Pallas. (See figure, 



p. 295.) 



THE ONAGER, or Wild Ass of the Asiatic deserts, presents several varieties. That variety which 

 inhabits ditch and Scinde is remarkable for its swiftness and difficulty of approach. It is closely 

 allied to the Wild Ass of Assyria, named by St. Hilaire Equus /temippus. (See figure, p. 311.) 



BURCHELL'S ZEBRA. 



THE WILD Ass OP ABYSSINIA, the parent form from which the domestic animals were derived, 

 is readily distinguishable from the above species by the stripes on its hind legs. (See figure, p. 312.) 



THE ZEBRAS. Dr. Sclater describes three species of Zebra : the black and white, or true Zebra, 

 which inhabits the mountains ; Burchell's Zebra, or the black and yellow Zebra, which inhabits the 

 plains; and the Quagga. The true Zebra inhabits the hilly districts of Southern Africa, and is 

 remarkable for its beauty and its fierce and untamable nature. It is by far the most conspicuous 

 and most beautiful of the Ass tribe. The stripes which define it from the ordinary Asses are 

 remarkably like those of the Tiger in their arrangement. Those on its legs are horizontal, while 

 those of its body are for the most part vertical. 



BURCHELL'S ZEBRA is found in great numbers north of the Orange River ; and, according to 

 Sir Cornwallis Harris, " seldom congregating in herds of fewer than eighty or a hundred, it abounds to 

 a great extent in all the districts included between that noble stream and the southern tropic. 

 Occupying the same regions and delighting in the same pastures as the Brindled Gnu, rarely is it to 



