442 THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE [CH. 



and that black has ahiiost gone, but that chestnut (which 

 Major-General Tweedie holds to be the same colour as bay) is 

 also disappearing as well as brown. 



Table I, of the colours of the winning horses in the Derby, 

 Oaks, and St Leger from 1870 to 1899 : 



From the table it is clear that during the last third of the 

 past century bay has been slowly gaining upon both brown 

 and chestnut combined, and that brown has been gaining upon 

 chestnut. Thus the dun element, which as we already believed 

 from our previous investigations when mixed with bay gives 

 chestnut, is steadily being eliminated and our racing stock is 

 becoming a breed of bays and browns with a steady tendency to 

 become eventually purely bay. 



The same tendency is shown still more emphatically if we 

 take the colours of the first three horses in each of the three 

 great races just named. 



Table II \ showing the colours of the three first horses in the 

 Derby, the Oaks, and the St Leger from 1870 to 1899 : 



Out of 90 horses bay only had 36 in 1870-9, but rose to 

 54 in the last decade; whilst chestnut ^ which was repre- 



^ This table is not quite complete, for the colour was omitted in one instance 

 in the Calendar, though those of the winners are given without fail. 



^ With reference to the proportions of chestnut found in the two sexes the 

 results are as follows: Totals for thirty years: colts 41, fillies 36. 1870-9: 

 colts 20, fillies 13; 1880-9: colts 9, fillies 19; 1890-9: colts 12, fiUies 3. The 

 great decrease in chestnut in the last decade is therefore especially seen in the 

 mares. 



