52 THE PERCHEKOH' HOKSE. 



mon with the Arab numerous marks of a common parent- 

 age and relationship : these marks are very obvious. A 

 Percheron, a true Percheron, for some still exist, (as the 

 famous Toulouse of M. Cheradame, of Ecouche ; and the 

 renowned Jean-le-JBlanc of M. Miard, of Villers, near Sap, 

 in the department of the Orne, etc., etc.,) placed along- 

 side of an Arab, presents, notwithstanding his heavier 

 and grosser form, analogies with him so striking that we 

 are easily induced to believe them undoubted relations. 



The Percheron of the primitive type has a gray coat 

 like the Arab ; and like him an abundant and silky mane, 

 a fine skin, and a large, prominent, and expressive eye; a 

 broad forehead, dilated nostrils, and a full and deep 

 chest, although, the girth, with him, as with the Arab, is 

 always lacking in fullness ; more bony and leaner limbs, 

 and less covered with hair than those of other draft-horse 

 families. 



He has not, it is true, the fine haunch and fine form of 

 the shoulder, nor that swan-like neck which distinguishes 

 the Arab ; but it must not be forgotten that for ages he 

 has been employed for draft purposes, and these habits 

 have imparted to his bony frame an anatomical structure, 

 a combination of levers adapted to the work he is called 

 upon to perform. He has not, I again acknowledge, 

 such a fine skin as the Arab, nor his prettily rounded, 

 oval, and small foot; but we must remember the fact that 

 he lives under a cold climate, upon elevated plains, where 

 nature gives him for a covering a thicker skin and a 

 warmer coat, and that he has been for ages stepping upon 

 a moist, clayey soil. 



In all that remains in him, we recognize a heavy Arab, 

 modified and remodeled by climate and peculiar circum- 

 stances. He has remained mild and laborious, like his 

 sire ; he is brought up, like him, in the midst of the family, 

 and, like him, he possesses in a very high degree the fac- 

 ulty of easy acclimation. He acquires this in the midst 



