ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1451 



THE NORSE HORSE 

 Showing: dorsal strip and mane falling on one side. 



the place of brown, making a well-defined dor- 

 sal stripe. Suggestive of an ancestral type are 

 the very faint horizontal stripes on the knees 

 and hocks. A heavy mane, falling on both sides 

 of the neck, and a very full forelock, the long- 

 est ht.irs of which reach down to the nostrils, 

 add to his shaggy appearance. 



The most highly specialized character of the 

 Celtic horse is the tail-lock. Unlike the de- 

 ciduous body hair, the mane and tail of most 

 horses are persistent and grow continuously at 

 a rate sufficient to counteract the ordinary wear. 

 With the Celtic, the hair on the lower two- 

 thirds of the tail is of the usual sort, while that 

 of the upper third is deciduous and compara- 

 tively short during the summer, but in winter 

 reaches a length of five or six inches, spreading 

 laterally and sloping downward, forming a 

 thatch to protect the hind quarters. With this 

 tail-lock, a thick coat of body-hair five inches 

 long, and a heavy mane protecting both sides 

 of the neck, we expect Celt to thoroughly en- 



joy our coldest weather. During the first hard 

 snow storm, if he lives up to his reputation, we 

 will find him standing tail to windward, the 

 head somewhat lowered so that the very small 

 ears are buried between the mane and forelock, 

 a beard protecting the throat, and the tail-lock 

 spread to the gale, lodging a small snow-drift 

 which thus forms a double thatch. So pro- 

 tected he will wait quite unconcerned for the 

 storm to abate when, with a vigorous shake, his 

 accumulation of snow will be unloaded. 



Although a stallion, Celt is of the gentle dis- 

 position so characteristic of his race, and was 

 broken to the saddle and harness by a twelve- 

 year-old boy. 



The Norse horse, (E. cahalliis typicus) is a 

 much coarser type than the Celtic, and in many 

 respects is similar to the wild Przewalsky horse 

 of Mongolia, though really quite distinct. As 

 in the wild horse, all of the eight callosities are 

 present. Dorsal and leg stripes suggest a re- 

 lationship, but an essential difference is found 



THE CELTIC HORSE 



The tail-lock of winter hardly noticeable, photograph 



having been taken in October. 



