The Darley Arabian, 233 



talking to him, as they followed the leaders ; but in a 

 hard struggle home, he was rather ungenerous, unless 

 he had quite the best of it, and that small picket ear 

 and narrowness between the eyes made him much too 

 cute and suspicious. People may talk about an intel- 

 ligent head, but horses may be often too cute in that 

 organ. He did not come quite so often as Fisherman, 

 as the latter only walked for a couple of days, then 

 took long gallops for two more, and was all ripe and 

 ready for another start with " Garge,'' who was never 

 to be seen awaiting the arrival of Mr. Parr, on the 

 railway-platform, in "a state of sanguine despondency" 

 about him. Fisherman became Mr. Parr's for five 

 hundred at two-years-old. He did not win once in his 

 six starts that season, but his new owner argued that 

 if such a great leggy frame could " act" at all then, he 

 must do wonders as he grew down. 



The Chanticleers have always been Birdcatcher's 

 short, and at one time they were thought stock. 

 rather bad-hearted as w^ell. They are, however, a 

 kind which require patience ; often pretty good as 

 two-year-olds, but still oftener improved by keeping. 

 In fact, the whiter they get, the better they get ; and 

 we never saw any animal undergo such a thorough 

 change in his looks as Lord Alfred did, between two 

 and four. Hurworth, who was bought for 1500 

 guineas, and sold the year after for fifteen, was out of 

 a Hetman Platofif mare ; and so were Knight of St. 

 George and Daniel O'Rourke, the lengthiest and most 

 compact of the Birdcatcher family. The former cannot 

 be above fifteen hands ; but Daniel, who was only 

 fourteen-three when he won the Derby, is now barely 

 half an inch below fifteen-two ; and all his wild Malton 

 tricks are gone. He gets his foals of a darker chestnut 

 than the Birdcatchers generally are, and all with backs 

 and legs of iron. His own legs are perfection this 

 way, and as you look down his back, it seems as cloven 

 as a ram's. He reminded us most of a sort of lesser 



