This latter is short and thick-set, so much so as not to be easily ridden by short persons without high stirrups.

Neither of these wild horses are numerous, but neither are they uncommon.

They keep entirely separate from each other.
As many as thirty mares are sometimes seen together, but there are districts where the traveller will not observe one for weeks.
Tradition says that in the olden times there were horses of a slender build whose speed outstripped the wind, but of the breed of these famous racers not one is left.

Whether they were too delicate to withstand exposure, or whether the wild dogs hunted them down is uncertain, but they are quite gone.

Did but one exist, how eagerly it would be sought out, for in these days it would be worth its weight in gold, unless, indeed, as some affirm, such speed only endured for a mile or two.
It is not necessary, having written thus far of the animals, that anything be said of the birds of the woods, which every one knows were not always wild, and which can, indeed, be compared with such poultry as are kept in our enclosures.