p  { background: url(xyz.gif) white no-repeat bottom left fixed}
same as 
p  { background-image: url(xyz.gif);background-color: white; 
background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:bottom left;
background-attachment:fixed}

If not given, property is set to the default

p    { background-color:  white }
not necessarily the same as:
p    { background:  white }
as this means:
p    { background-color: white; background-image:none; 
background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:top left; 
background-attachment:scroll }

All the other properties are set to the default values which may not be what you want