NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 77 



consisted in the strange length of its legs ; on which it was 

 tilted up much in the manner of the birds of the grallce 

 order. I measured it as they do a horse, and found that, 

 from the ground to the wither, it was just five feet four 

 inches; which height answers exactly to sixteen hands, a 

 growth that few horses arrive at : but then, with this 

 length of legs, its neck was remarkably short, no more 

 than twelve inches ; so that, by straddling with one foot 

 forward and the other backward, it grazed on the plain 

 ground, with the greatest difficulty, between its legs; the 

 ears were vast and lopping, and as long as the neck ; the 

 head was about twenty inches long, and ass-like ; and had 

 such a redundancy of upper lip as I never saw before, with 

 huge nostrils. This lip, travellers say, is esteemed a dainty 

 dish in North America. It is very reasonable to suppose 

 that this creature supports itself chiefly by browsing of 

 trees, and by wading after water plants; towards which 

 way of livelihood the length of legs and great lip must con- 

 tribute much. I have read somewhere that it delights in 

 eating the nymphcea, or water-lily. From the fore-feet to the 

 belly behind the shoulder it measured three feet and eight 

 inches : the length of the legs before and behind consisted 

 a great deal in the tihia^ which was strangely long ; but, in 

 my haste to get out of the stench, I forgot to measure that 

 joint exactly. Its scut seemed to be about an inch long ; 

 the colour was a grizzly black ; the mane about four inches 

 long ; the fore-hoofs were upright and shapely, the hind flat 

 and splayed. The spring before, it was only two years old, 

 so that most probably it was not then come to its growth. 

 What a vast tall beast must a full grown stag be ! I have 

 been told some arrive at ten feet and a half 1 This poor 

 creature had at first a female companion of the same 

 species, which died the spring before. In the same garden 



