Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/433

Rh the legs regularly striped. An equine hybrid (Asiatic Wild Ass, ♂ × Burchell Zebra, ♀) now living in the Jardin des Plantes is rufous grey in colour, having the body and legs ornamented with long thin stripes, but the hind quarters boldly marked with broad dark bands like its mother.

Cervus davidianus (Père David's Deer).—Much interest attaches to this very rare animal, since probably it is now utterly exterminated in the wild state, those now in captivity—a scanty band indeed—being all that is left of the species. I recollect seeing several in the Jardin d'Acclimatation some years ago, but they are all gone now. An old male still survives in the Jardin des Plantes—a faded-looking specimen, and not at all attractive, save for his great rarity. When I saw him a few weeks ago he was standing still, with muzzle on ground, sleepy and lethargic, as if the fate of his race was beginning to personally oppress him. The note of this Deer is a disagreeable bray; in fact, Cervus davidianus cannot be considered a nice animal at all.

Cynomys ludovicianus (Prairie Dog).—These little rodents flourish abundantly in captivity if allowed plenty of room, frisking about in broad daylight like so many Ground Squirrels, and continually popping in and out of their burrows. Such individuals as I have been able to observe delved with tremendous energy and enthusiastic perseverance, the earth being rapidly thrown out between the straddled-out hind legs. As far as one could judge, the shape of the mounds thus thrown up by these Prairie Dogs was flatter and somewhat more elongated than that of the typical watch-tower structure usually figured in works of natural history. The Prairie Dog "town" in the Jardin d'Acclimatation consists of a number of somewhat widely separated burrows, and none of the mounds are very large; in fact, at a short distance they are hardly distinguishable from the surrounding earth. Prairie Dogs will breed readily in captivity, and make interesting pets.