WILD ASSES AND ZEBRAS 
towards them. I once, too, saw a small herd of zebras come close to my 
three horses, which were feeding in the open not far away from my waggon. 
The whole herd first came to within fifty yards of their equine cousins, 
and then stood looking at them for some time. Then the boldest amongst 
them commenced a cautious approach, closely followed by its companions. 
After many halts, they came quite close up to the horses, and commenced 
sniffing at them with outstretched noses. Beyond looking at the zebras, 
my horses paid no attention to them, perhaps because they were quite 
familiar with these animals and well used to their smell. Twice, however, 
it has happened to me that my horses were disturbed by a herd of zebras 
galloping past them, and that they galloped after them, and kept with 
them for many miles. Zebras — at any rate, Burchell’s zebras — although 
they can gallop at a great pace and are very enduring, are not extraordin- 
arily fleet, and when trying to catch young foals I have on several occasions 
galloped right in amongst a herd. Twice when chasing herds of gemsbuck, 
which were followed by a number of zebras, I galloped right through the 
latter animals to get at the much fleeter antelopes in front of them. On all 
these occasions, however, I was mounted on a fast horse. The old name 
originally given to the least -striped form of zebra was “ quagga,” which 
in this country is usually pronounced “ kwagger.” The name, however, 
ought to be pronounced as if it were spelt “ kwa ha,” and was no doubt 
taken over from the Hottentots or Bushmen by the early Dutch settlers in 
South Africa, as it is an attempt to imitate the barking neigh, “Kwa, h&, 
hsi, kwa M-M,” which is common to all the different species or races 
of Burchell’s zebras, amongst which I include Equus quagga. The call- 
note of Gravy’s zebra is quite unlike that of Burchell’s, being a kind of 
long-drawn mournful bray. Where I have met with these animals they 
were especially noisy at nights, though I frequently heard them braying 
by day as well. In South Africa Burchell’s zebras are seldom heard 
neighing, except when one of a herd has been shot. Then, as the others 
run away, one or other of them may be heard calling constantly for some 
little time. But on the Gwas N’gishu plateau in British East Africa the 
race of zebras which is there met with, and which, by the by, is almost 
maneless, is excessively noisy. All day long their loud barking cry may be 
heard, whether they have been disturbed or not. In spite of the contention 
of many naturalists that zebras ought to be very inconspicuous animals, 
owing to the blending of their black-and-white markings into a neutral 
grey, this has not been my experience. If they were a forest animal, the 
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