GENERAL INTRODUCTION. IxxV 



withers and over the croup, I at least expected Nora's 

 third foal to have as many stripes as her first. Nora's 

 third foal, however, now that it is five months old, as 

 closely resembles the sire as the Iceland's third foal re- 

 sembles her prepotent skewbald dam — another proof that 

 Nora, unlike Tundra, is not inbred. The resemblance is 

 not only in colour, but also in make and action ; and, as 

 far as one can judge, also in temperament. As in the 

 skewbald foal, there is not yet any indication whatever, 

 either of the previous sire, or the previous hybrid foal 

 Heckla. Even the shoulder and other stripes present in 

 Nora's first foal to the Shetland pony are absent. The 

 third foal is hence less zebra-like than the first, notwith- 

 standing the fact that the sire of the intermediate foal 

 was a zebra far more richly decorated with stripes than 

 Lord Morton's quagga. But though there are no stripes 

 visible at the fifth month, there were faint indications of 

 stripes over the croup and hind quarters at birth ; while 

 over the brow the hair, though not coloured, was so ar- 

 ranged that in certain lights it seemed to form a series 

 of arches. As the first coat was shed all the indications 

 of stripes disappeared, and I anticipate that when the 

 winter coat is shed next spring Nora's third foal will, in 

 her coloration, be almost identical with her sire, the bay 

 Welsh pony. 



It thus appears that in Nora we have a non-prepotent 

 mare that tends to reproduce, not her oAvn characters, but 

 those of the sire with which she is mated ; and yet, though 

 extremely sensitive, there is no indication from her last 

 foal that she had been previously mated with a zebra. 



(c) Biddy's Second Foal. — Biddy, I may repeat, is a 

 three parts bred bay Irish mare, with black points. In 

 her colour she is more typical, i. e. she more closely 

 approaches the dun-coloured ancestors from which horses 

 seem to have sprung than is the case with either the 

 skewbald Iceland or the almost black Shetland pony. 

 Further, she is neither prepotent like the Iceland, nor 

 yet particularly non-prepotent like the Shetland. 



Biddy is of about the same age, and has from the 



