FERAL HORSES. 175 



by the rigour of climate, but solely by the extent of 

 available food, the wilds of Patagonia and the lati- 

 tudes of the northern deserts will continue to main- 

 tain them in freedom, and render them migratory 

 like the deer and the bison of the same climate. 



Of the South American feral horses, none that 

 we ourselves have possessed or seen, living, depicted, 

 or described, had assumed the aspect or original 

 colours of the wild species of Asia ; they all bore 

 the stamp of the domesticated races of Old Spain, 

 with more or less modification; and though the 

 herds roaming in freedom are mostly of a similar 

 livery, there are amongst them individuals of every 

 shade and mixture of colours that exist in Europe ; 

 black, as far as our personal observations went, 

 being rarest; modifications of grey perhaps the 

 most abundant in the mountainous regions towards 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and shades of bay in the Pam- 

 pas. * Azara, the best qualified naturalist to express 

 an opinion on this particular subject, estimates the 

 proportion of bays (bay-brown) to be about ninety 

 to ten zains, that is, entirely dark-coloured, without 

 any white ; black, there is not one in two thou- 

 sand; pied and greys occur sometimes, but they 

 are invariably individuals escaped or left from do- 

 mestic conditions. * Jet black, though very rare, 



* On the colours of Spanish horses, see " Escuella de a 

 "Caballo," a translation from La Gueriniere, but with addi- 

 tions by Don Baltazar de Trursun. 2 vols. 8vo. Madrid, 

 178G. 



f There is a race of starred skewbalds in Patagonia, an evi- 



