Wii-SON — The TnhcrUance of the Dtin Cont-Oolnur in Horse-i. 197 



Districts Board. Pony stallions were sent out by the Board for service on 

 the island from 1895 to 1903 ; and the practice has been continued by the 

 Department of Agriculture down to the present time. The sires in_ service 

 since 1895 are as follows : — 



At the time the first dun sire was introduced, the mares on the island 

 were chiefly browns and bays, with a very few duns and greys.' Tlie annual 

 birth-rate is from forty to sixty foals, the most of which are exported to the 

 mainland in the year of their birth. Accurate figures therefore cannot now be 

 got ; but Mr. Garvey, the present agricultural instructor on the island, has made 

 close and careful inquiry ; and one or two quotations from his letters will 

 make the question perfectly clear. Information lias also been received from 

 Mr. M'Cabe, of the Granuaile Hotel, Clare Island. 



"There were three dun stallions brought iu by the Department. All the 

 foals of the first two were dun, and the foals of the tliird were of different 

 colours." (28th October, 1911.) 



" There were three-fourths^ of the last [dun] stallion's foals dun. The other 

 colours were brown and bright red.^ There were no greys, except one from a 

 grey mare." (19th November, 1911.) 



" I have been told by a good many of the islanders, especially the man 

 that kept the stallions, that all the foals got by Norseman and Oscar were dun 

 except one that was rather white." (8th December, 1911.) 



Mr. Garvey's earlier statements were seen to be so important that he was 



• Information supplied by Mr. Garvey and Mr. M'Cabe, of the Granuaile Hotel, Clare Island. 



* This, of coui'se, is only an estimate. 



' A reddish bay found fi'e c^uently among Western ponies. 



