8'0 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSK. 



serviceable in absorbing the superabundant rays of light which 

 may be transmitted to the eye. The horse's sight is excellent, 

 and, although not regarded as a nocturnal animal, he can dis- 

 tinguish objects at night with great facility. There are but few 

 horsemen, who have not benefited by this power, when the 

 shades of night have fallen round them. 



The ears are comparatively small, but the conch is endowed 

 with extensive motion, so as to catch the sound coming from 



KAMES APPLIED TO THE VARIOUS EXTERNAL PARTS OP THE HORSE. 



any quarter. Their hearing is quick, and although blindness 

 is so distinctively prevalent among horses, deafness is exceed- 

 ingly uncommon. During sleep, one ear is usually directed 

 forward, and the other backward ; when on a march at night, 

 in company, it has been noticed "that those in the front direct 

 their ears forward, those in the rear backward, and those in the 

 centre turn them laterally, or across ; the whole troop seeming 

 thus to be actuated by one feeling, which watches the general 



