200 THE QUAGGA., 
This animal is so wonderfully swift that it cannot be overtaken even by a 
fleet Arabian horse, and if it can get upon hilly or rocky ground, it bids 
defiance to all wingless enemies. Not even the greyhound can follow it with 
any hope of success when it once leaves level ground. This great speed 
renders it a favourite object of chase with the natives of the country which 
it inhabits ; and whether in Persia or India, it is held to be the noblest of 
game. Sometimes-the falcon is trained to aid in the chase of the Wild Ass, 
but the usual method of 
securing this animal is to 
drive it towards rocky 
ground, and to kill it with 
a rifle bullet as it stands in 
fancied security upon some 
lofty crag. 
It lives in troops, descend- 
ing to the plains during the 
winter months, and return- 
ing to the cooler hills as 
soon as the summer begins 
to be unpleasantly warm. 
It is very common in 
Mesopotamia, and is always 
a most shy and wary, as 
well as swift animal, Each 
troop is under the command 
QUAGGA.—(Asinus Quagyu.) of a leader, who sways his 
subjects with unlimited 
authority, and takes upon himself to make all needful arrangements for 
their welfare. 
The colour of this animal is pale reddish brown in the summer, fading 
into a grey-brown in the 
winter, and marked with 
a black stripe along the 
spine, becoming wider 
upon the middle of the 
back. 
Another species of Wild 
Ass is the KIANG, or Wild 
Ass of Thibet, sometimes, 
but erroneously, called the 
Wild Horse of Thibet, be- 
cause its noise resembles 
the neighing of that animal 
rather than the braying of 
the Ass. 
AFRICA produces some 
most beautiful examples 
of the Wild Asses, equal- 
ling the Asiatic species in 
ZEBRA. —(Asinus Zebra.) speed and beauty of form, 
and far surpassing them 
in richness of colour and boldness of marking. 
THE QuacGaA looks at first sight like a cross between the common wild ass 
and the zebra, as it only partially possesses the characteristic zebra stripes, and 
as decorated merely upon the hind and fore parts of the body. The streaks 
