THE HORSES. 



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WILD HORSE OF TARTARY. 



existing and some of the extinct members of the family, are characterised by the feet being formed of 

 one perfectly developed digit or toe only, the others being present in a rudimentary shape as the splint- 

 bones. In the extinct Hipparion, however, and Anchithere, as we shall see presently, the accessory 

 toes are well developed. 



The true Horses are represented by one well-established species, Equus caballus, from which all the 

 other races, or varieties, are descended, by a process of selection under the care of man, and these vary 

 in size, proportion of parts, and colour, as much as any two closely-allied species of wild animals can be 

 said to be defined from each other. According to Mr. Darwin, no aboriginal or truly Wild Horse is 

 positively known to exist, for the Wild Horses of the East may probably be descended from those 

 which have escaped from the service of man. In all probability the wild animal has been exterminated 

 by the hand of man in those countries which it formerly inhabited, and in which it has left its remains 

 to attest its former presence. 



The Tarpan and Wild Horse of Tartary, which are to be found in thousands in the great treeless 

 plains, present us with the nearest examples of the stock from which the Domestic Horses were 

 probably derived. Their colour is mouse-coloured, with a stripe along the back. The best and 

 strongest of these are caught by the Tartars by the aid of the lasso, and by the help of Falcons, which 

 are trained to settle on the Horse's head, and nutter their wings, so as to take its attention away from 

 the approaching hunter. 



The first Domestic Horses known in Europe were introduced at a very early period, long before 

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