THE COATS. 777 



g. The brown bay, finally, is almost black. It might even be 

 mistaken for the rusty black, especially in winter, were it not for the 

 reddish colorations around the nostrils, the axilla?, the elbows, the 

 abdomen, the flanks, or the buttocks, which always distinguish the 

 former from the latter. 



Bay horses, like the sorrel, often show white markings upon the 

 head ; nevertheless, such marks are less common in them. The same 

 may be said of their reflections. In the vigorous and well-groomed 

 subjects, and in a bright light, the light colors frequently appear golden, 

 the red copper-colored, and the brown bronzed. 



3d. The mouse or mouse-colored coat is also formed by an 

 assemblage of two distinct colors : the body is covered with hairs of an 

 ashy gray analogous to those of the mouse ; as to the members, they are 

 black from the knee and hock down, as in the Isabella and the bay. 



According to the case, the mouse-color is light, ordinary, or dark. 

 Sometimes the head is a little darker, and the mule stripe upon the 

 back and the zebra stripes upon the arm and forearm are present ; at 

 other times, the members are of the same color as the body. The 

 existence of these peculiarities should be mentioned. 



C. Mixed Coats. 



In the preceding groups, we have seen that the coat is formed by 

 hairs of but one or two colors, but the body, in all cases, is provided 

 with hairs of the same shade ; the extremities alone have a different 

 color. In the mixed coat, the elements are of a diverse nature and 

 ordinarily intimately mixed ; besides, this mixing takes place in the 

 individual hairs themselves : the latter show two distinct, localized 

 shades, the one at their base and the other at their extremity. 



For the reason that these coats, as a whole and in detail, show 

 more or less of a combination of the characters of the other groups, 

 we have named them mixed. 



Only one variety of this coat has been, until the present time, 

 recognized upon the horse: the fox-color ; but there are others in cer- 

 tain domestic or wild animals, such as the collie dog, the cat, the 

 badger, the wolf, the roe, the deer, the hare, the rabbit, etc. Each of 

 them has some part of the integument, notably the superior face of the 

 body, covered by hairs of two or three colors, associated in very dif- 

 ferent manners and combined in very variable proportions. To describe 

 them would be outside the scope of this book. 



