146 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



until required for the market, and to lead a per- 

 fectly wild life, being neither fenced, nor fed, nor 

 otherwise cared for. Some grow comparatively 

 big, others remain fairy-like, as if designed to 

 bear Titania's chariot through the glimmering 

 night. The former are kept at home, and used 

 for the transport of peat, and other purposes. 

 The latter are exported; and once brought fancy 

 prices. A one season's foal, some two or three 

 years ago, was sold for ten pounds, a perfect 

 fortune in Shetland : probably the only money 

 the inland crofter saw ; unless he went to the 

 whale fishing, and even that is failing him. 



The Americans were the chief purchasers. All 

 attempts to breed them in America, and such 

 seem to have been made, failed. The foals invari- 

 ably grew bigger than either sire or dam ; a 

 well-merited rebuke to the greed which would 

 rob a poor man of his one source of income. This 

 would seem to show that the small size of the 

 Shetland pony, probably also of the sheep, is 

 largely owing to the hard life it has to lead, 

 and its coarse, scant fare. It is one of the most 

 striking examples in the animal world, of the 

 influence of environment as distinguished from 

 natural selection. 



