ZEBRA-HOKSE HYBRIDS. 49 



is freer, and more like that of a hackney than a zebra. 

 She promises to be quite as large and as active as Romulus, 

 and more able than Romulus to withstand cold and to 

 flourish under adverse circumstances. 



The length of the head and the shortness of the neck 

 suggest that the Iceland ponies do not belong to the same 

 race as the black Oriental-looking West Highland ponies. 

 They may be direct descendants of the horses hunted by 

 the men of the Reindeer Period. Their ancestors may 

 have gradually worked their way northwards with the 

 Tundra fauna, which then, as now, lived near the edge of 

 the ice. If Heckla owes her dark colour to reversion, it 

 may be inferred her ancestors were of a mouse-dun colour. 



It is too soon to offer any opinion as to whether Romulus 

 or any of the zebra-mare hybrids will prove fertile or 

 specially useful either at home or abroad, and it is equally 

 impossible to say whether they will withstand the African 

 tsetse fly, or have better constitutions than either ordinary 

 mules or asses ; but this much may be said, they all seem 

 very hardy. Romulus has been in perfect health from the 

 first, as indeed has been his zebra sire, while nearly all my 

 mares and horses have had colds and other ailments. 

 Quite recently the four hybrid foals and three ordinary 

 foals have been suffering from the presence of various 

 species of Strongylus. One of the pure-bred foals 

 (Mulatto's second foal to an Arab horse) died from the 

 effects of the parasite on the 1st of January, and a 

 thoroughbred foal has been reduced almost to a skeleton ; 

 but the four young hybrids, though no longer so bright or 

 in so good condition, are evidently rapidly recovering, and 

 will, I trust, be soon all right agaii). I may mention that 

 the editor of the Scottish Farmer believes Romulus " vv^ill 

 be invaluable for driving or riding on account of his 

 hardiness," and he has stated that all the hybrids " have 

 feet and legs like whalebone, with the kind of pasterns 

 that Clydesdale men fancy." '^ It is well known that 



* Scottish Farmer, November 27tli, 1897. 



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