Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/66

42 African Giraffe, a handsomer animal than the northern species, from which it has only recently been recognised as distinct.

The regret at the loss—actual or threatened—of these fine beasts, though real enough to the naturalist, is mainly sentimental; but there remains one species whose strength, speed, and proved docility only render its total extermination at the hands of the Boer hunters a matter for deeper concern.

I refer to the handsome true Quagga of the Cape Colony and Orange Free State—Equus quagga of modern zoologists, quacha of the Hottentots, idube of the Kaffirs—formerly found in enormous herds on the plains south of the Vaal River, but now, in spite of all assertions to the contrary, utterly exterminated. In general proportions, and in the mane, tail, and hoofs, it was semi-equine; body-colour rufous-brown, changing to fulvous posteriorly, and fading into white on legs, tail, and abdomen. The head was striped in Zebra fashion; the neck was handsomely banded alternately with dark brown and white, these stripes fading on the withers, and becoming rapidly fainter posteriorly, the darker markings persisting on the haunches as vague lines and spots. The iris (judging from a plate which I have seen drawn from life by Waterhouse Hawkins, and depicting the pair of Quaggas formerly living in the Knowsley menagerie) was orange-brown. The mane was erect and thick; the tail reached to the hocks. Quagga foals resembled their elders in colouring, though, judging from Sparrman's remarks, these colours were probably brighter in the youngsters. Like little Zebras, young Quaggas had their coat rough and long.

The curious former association of the Quagga with Ostriches and White-tailed Gnus (exactly paralleled by the mixed herds of Burchell Zebra and Brindled Gnu) was long ago observed and commented upon by Harris. We also know that the Quagga, though fleet, could be overtaken by a well-mounted rider; that wounded animals at bay would kick savagely and bite severely; that the flesh was oily and disgusting to Europeans, though relished by the natives; and that the northern limit of the range of this species was the Vaal River. Beyond these scanty details, however, but little seems to have been recorded of the wild Quagga, and a few particulars of the animal in captivity complete all that will ever be known of this vanished equine.