Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/91

Rh hasty retreat. Biddy was the first fairly large animal he ventured to approach. One day I tied her up in a court about forty feet square, a cloth having been previously bound over her eyes. The Zebra in course of time ventured within a few yards; later he laid his head across her quarters, and then, for quite a long time, across her withers. He next licked her lips, and ended by gently nibbling at her ears. Evidently at length satisfied a big Horse was after all not so terrible an object, he retired to his box and finished his corn. Having once learned the peculiarities of a mare he never forgets them. Some of the mares he dislikes, while he is very fond of others, getting quite excited when they pass his own particular quarters. Donkeys, however, he completely refuses to take the smallest notice of.

Remus—born on the 18th of May, 1896—was, at birth, relatively smaller and far less active than Romulus; the period of gestation was three hundred and forty-six days. When a day old he measured 35½ in., his girth being 28 in. On the 18th of June he had increased to 38¾ in., the girth being 36 in. When six months old he measured 44⅞ in., the girth being 47½ in., the circumference at the knee 9¾ in., and below the knee 5¾ in. Romulus at six months was 42 in.

From the first Remus has been extremely friendly, and yet in some respects he is more Zebra-like than Romulus. For some days he was little more than a machine,—an automaton capable of following a moving object and of sucking. All the special sense organs were apparently at work, but the brain seemed incapable of making much use of the information collected. If I moved away he followed me, and sucked at my fingers or anything else offered him. He heard his dam when she called, but he was unable to discover whence the sound came, and when he saw her at a few yards distance he failed to recognize her. He seemed to like aloes and water quite as much as sugar and milk, and did not mind either strong smelling-salts or freshly-made mustard. Though he kicked aimlessly when pinched, he paid no heed to the application of either warm or very cold substances to his skin. When a dog was first introduced to Romulus, his excitement was intense. He rushed about at a furious rate, striking as opportunity offered with his fore-feet, and holding his head high and stepping high, as if