THE MUSTANG. 207 
fore the best entitled to precedence in the 
brief notice I am able to present of the ani- 
mals of those regions, is the mustang®* or wild 
horse of the Prairies. As he is descended 
from the stock introduced into America by 
the first Spanish colonists, he has no doubt a 
partial mixture of Arabian. blood. Being of 
domestic origin, he is found of various colors, 
and sometimes of a beautiful piebald 
It is a singular fact in the economy of na- 
ture, that all wild animals of the same species 
should have one uniform color (with only 
occasional but uniform differences between 
males and females); while that of the domes- 
tic animals, whether quadruped or fowl, is 
more or less diversified. 
The beauty of the mustang is proverbial. 
One in particular has been celebrated by 
hunters, of which marvellous stories are told. 
He has been represented as a medium-sized 
stallion of perfect symmetry, milk-white, save 
a pair of black ears—a natural ‘pacer,’ and 
so fleet, it has been said, as to leave far be- 
hind ore horse that had been tried in pur- 
suit of him, without breaking his ‘pace.’ But 
I infer that this story is somewhat mythical, 
from the difficulty which one finds in fixing 
the abiding place of its equine hero. He is 
familiarly known, by common report, all over 
the great Prairies. The trapper celebrates 
him in the vicinity of the northern Rocky 
* Mustang would most naturally seem rg age of the Span- 
ish adjective mostrenco (without owner), but the Mexicans call 
wild horses mestefias, a synonyme in one of its senses with 
