122 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



ground was not so bad, they had become exceed- 

 ingly alert and cunning, and the sight of men on 

 horseback would send them flying to the most 

 inaccessible places in the marshes, where it was 

 impossible to follow them. Eventually plans were 

 laid and the troop driven from their stronghold 

 out into the open country, where the ground was 

 firm, and most of them were captured. Cristiano 

 was one of them, a colt about four or five months 

 old, and my friend took possession of him, 

 attracted by his blue eye and fine fawn colour. 

 In quite a short time the colt became perfectly 

 tame, and when broken turned out an exceptionally 

 good riding-horse. But though so young when 

 captured the wild alert habit was never dropped. 

 He could never be still : when out grazing with 

 the other horses or when standing tied to the 

 palenque he was perpetually on the watch, and the 

 cry of a plover, the sound of galloping hoofs, the 

 sight of a horseman, would startle him and cause 

 him to trumpet his alarm. 



It strikes me as rather curious that in spite of 

 Cristiano's evident agitation at certain sounds and 

 sights, it never went to the length of a panic ; he 

 never attempted to break loose and run away. 

 He behaved just as if the plover's cry or the 

 sound of hoofs or the sight of mounted men had 

 produced an illusion that he was once more a 

 wild hunted horse yet he never acted as though 

 it was an illusion. It was apparently nothing more 

 than a memory and a habit. 



