THE COATS. 781 



colored hairs upon the body, the mane, and the tail, or upon the ex- 

 tremities. The knowledge of this fact has led certain authors to say 

 that white horses do not exist. Lecoq ^ has condemned this opinion 

 as being too absolute. The determination of the coat is not arrived 

 at with one eye alone. The whole, and not the detail, rules the diag- 

 nosis. The varieties of the color are as follows : 



a. The dull, railk, or pigeon white is without reflection, opaque, 

 of a milky aspect, and resembles somewhat that of a white pigeon. 



6. The porcelain white has the tint of porcelain china, in con- 

 sequence of the black coloration of the skin which is visible under the 

 hairs. 



c. The dirty white is of a slightly yellowish tint. It is derived 

 sometimes from coffee-and-milk, cream-colored, or even from very 

 light washed hairs. More frequently it results from uncleanliness. 



d. The rosy white presents in some places more or less large rosy 

 spots, which are due to the absence of the cutaneous pigment and to 

 the thinness of the hairs, leaving the discolored parts of the skin 

 visible. 



The reflection of the white is the silver, in the same manner as the 

 coal or jet is that of the black. 



3d. The flea-bitten coat is formed upon the body by red and 

 white hairs mixed, while the mane, tail, and extremities are of the 

 same color as the coat proper, and often lighter. 



It will be seen from this that the flea-bitten is nothing more than 

 the sorrel more or less freely intermingled with the white. 



It is differentiated from the gray with a rosy or reddish shade in 

 that it never presents very dark hairs, — that is to say, black, blackish, or 

 brown ; but as it becomes more and more white with age, it will event- 

 ually terminate in a clear wine gray. 



According to the abundance and intensity of the red, this coat is 

 designated light, ordinai'y, or dark. 



When the mixing of the two kinds of hairs is not uniform, it 

 receives particular designations. 



Thus the flea-bitten is called all-flower, when the white hairs are 

 collected in small patches and disseminated over the groundwork of 

 the coat. 



It is called peach-blossom, when composed of patches of red or 

 rosy hairs which are strewn over the lighter groundwork of the coat. 



1 Lecoq, Traits de I'ext^rieur du cheval, 5e 6d., p. 468. 



