Chap . IL THEIR COLOURS AND STRIPES. 57 



the term dun-coloured is vague, and includes three groups of colour, viz., 

 that between cream-colour and reddish-brown, which graduates into light- 

 bay or light-chesnut— this, I believe is often called fallow-dun ; secondly, 

 leaden or slate-colour or mouse-dun, which graduates into an ash-colour ; 

 and, lastly, dark-dun, between brown and black. In England I have examined 

 a rather large, lightly-built, fallow-dun Devonshire pony (fig. 1), with a 

 conspicuous stripe along the back, with light transverse stripes on the 

 under sides of its front legs, and with four parallel stripes on each shoulder. 

 Of these four stripes the posterior one was very minute and faint; the 

 anterior one, on the other hand, was long and broad, but interrupted in the 

 middle, and truncated at its lower extremity, with the anterior angle pro- 

 duced into a long tapering point. I mention this latter fact because the 

 shoulder-stripe of the ass occasionally presents exactly the same appearance. 

 I have had an outline and description sent to me of a small, purely-bred, 

 light fallow-dun Welch pony, with a spinal stripe, a single transverse stripe 

 on each leg, and three shoulder-stripes ; the posterior stripe corresponding 

 with that on the shoulder of the ass was the longest, whilst the two anterior 

 parallel stripes, arising from the mane, decreased in length, in a reversed 

 manner as compared with the shoulder-stripes on the above-described 

 Devonshire pony. I have seen a bright fallow-dun, strong cob, with its 

 front legs transversely barred on the under sides in the most conspicuous 

 manner ; also a dark-leaden mouse-coloured pony with similar leg stripes, 

 but much less conspicuous ; also a bright fallow-dun colt, fully three- 

 parts thoroughbred, with very plain transverse stripes on the legs ; also 

 a chesnut-dun cart-horse with a conspicuous spinal stripe, with distinct 

 traces of shoulder-stripes, but none on the legs ; I could add other 

 cases. My son made a sketch for me of a large, heavy, Belgian cart- 

 horse, of a fallow-dun, with a conspicuous spinal stripe, traces of leg- 

 stripes, and with two parallel (three inches apart) stripes about seven or 

 eight inches in length on both shoulders. I have seen another rather light 

 cart-horse, of a dirty dark cream-colour, with striped legs, and on one 

 shoulder a large ill-defined dark cloudy patch, and on the opposite shoulder 

 two parallel faint stripes. All the cases yet mentioned are duns of various 

 tints ; but Mr. W. W. Edwards has seen a nearly thoroughbred chesnut 

 horse which had the spinal stripe, and distinct bars on the legs ; and I 

 have seen two bay carriage-horses with black spinal stripes ; one of these 

 horses had on each shoulder a light shoulder-stripe, and the other had a 

 broad black ill-defined stripe, running obliquely half-way down each 

 shoulder ; neither had leg-stripes. 



The most interesting case which I have met with occurred in a colt of my 

 own breeding. A bay mare (descended from a dark-brown Flemish mare 

 by a light grey Turcoman horse) was put to Hercules, a thoroughbred 

 dark bay, whose sire (Kingston) and dam were both bays. The colt ulti- 

 mately turned out brown ; but when only a fortnight old it was a dirty 

 bay, shaded with mouse-grey, and in parts with a yellowish tint : it had 

 only a trace of the spinal stripe, with a few obscure transverse bars on the 

 legs ; but almost the whole body was marked with very narrow dark stripes, 

 in most parts so obscure as to be visible only in certain lights, like the 



