20 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 
than the Percheron or the Boulonnais. In color they 
are dapple-gray, with very few exceptions. 
Brittany has been prominent in horse-breeding for 
many years, although the animals bred are rather of 
a miscellaneous type. The Breton horses are exceed- 
ingly useful and of much the same general character as 
the old-style Percherons, but are smaller and more refined 
in type. Many of the Percheron stallions have been 
taken into this district in recent years in an effort to 
improve the breed in size and character. It is stated 
by some historians that English races have been intro- 
duced into this section, which possibly accounts for the 
more luxuriant growth of hair about the legs. Repre- 
sentatives of this type of horses are used very largely 
in France as omnibus horses in the cities. They have 
not been imported to this country to any great extent, 
probably owing to their lack of size and weight. 
Representatives of this breed may be registered in the 
stud-book of the National French Draft Horse Association 
of America. 
12. Nivernais.— The Nivernais is a breed of draft 
horses of French origin. The horses are of large size, with 
good length of neck, well-formed bodies of good length, 
massive shoulders and hind-quarters, and very strong 
bone, giving the legs a rather round appearance. They 
are uniformly black in color. Seldom, if ever, is a gray, 
brown or chestnut to be found. 
This breed of borses has been developed in the Depart- 
ment of Nivernais, or Niévre, in central France, and is 
one of the largest of the French draft horses. Its interests 
have not been very carefully looked after, and the choice 
specimens of the breed are not very numerous. It is 
only within the past nine or ten years that an associa- 
