776 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



A humorous legend concerning the origin of the name Isabella 

 relates that the Archduchess Isabella of Austria, daughter of Philip 

 II. of Spain, and wife of the Governor of the Netherlands, made a 

 vow at the time of the siege of Ostend not to change her linen 

 before the surrender of the place. The siege having continued for 

 three years (1601 to 1604), the chemise of the princess had acquired a 

 peculiar fawn shade, to which has since been given the name Isabella.^ 



2d. The bay or bay coat differs from the Isabella only in so far 

 that the yellow hairs are replaced by red hairs. The latter are of an 

 ill-defined tint, similar to mahogany, ripe cherry, fractured red cin- 

 chona, etc., but varying from light to dark, from fawn yellow to 

 maroon and brown. 



The bay could not be confounded with the sorrel, first, because the 

 mane, tail, and lower part of the members are black in nearly every 

 case ; secondly, on account of its deeper color, its brighter shade, and 

 its more brilliant reflection. 



We, nevertheless, meet horses of this color in which the mem- 

 bers, over their ivhole extent, are of the same color as the main shade of 

 the coat ; upon others, only the coronets are black ; finally, there are 

 some in which black hairs exist only along the course of the tendons 

 and upon the phalanges. 



The varieties of the bay are as follows : 



a. The light bay, whose red color is very light, bordering some- 

 what upon yellow. It often resembles the dark Isabella, and, like the 

 latter, sometimes has the mule and zebra stripes, which lead us, in 

 such cases, to classify it without hesitation with the latter type, in 

 which these peculiarities are so common. 



b. The ordinary bay is of a distinctly red color. 



c. The cherry bay, blood bay, and mahogany bay are a 

 little darker and almost identical. The names by which they are 

 designated sufiice to point out the differences as well as their par- 

 ticular shades. 



d. The chestnut bay, of a uniform light brown, is similar to 

 that of a ripened chestnut. 



e. The maroon bay reproduces quite accurately the color of the 

 maroon of the West Indies, with deeper and fresher shades upon the 

 upper part of the body. 



/. The dark bay is of a dark color bordering upon brown. 



» Bouillet, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de geographic ^d. de 1860; Litlr^, Dictionnaire de la 

 langue Iraii^aise. 



