414 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



and the third " a black stone horse " (stallion), after which the 

 meadows became common to all stock in the parish or district. 



Animals, coloured somewhat like the present "forest breed," seem 

 to have come into favour at one time. In The Boke of Husbandry 

 (1534) we are told " concerning cows or heifers," that they should 

 have good horns, wide foreheads, black eyes, and blackish lips. It 

 is also stated " they also approve of those as very good that are of a 

 yellowish colour, and have black eyes, as being of a generous breed." 



Some interesting information can also be gleaned from Conrad 



Gesner s Natural History. This work was published in 1551, with 



a supplement dated 1554. It is full of illustrations, many of them 



coloured when issued from the press. Herbestein is referred to 



in the Appendix, but we may note that Kes 3Ioscovitica}j which 



was issued in 1549, contained no illustrations. Gesner colours 



Bos and Vacca, and De Tauri reddish brown, and De Uro 



brown ; and of the latter he writes, " colore et Jigura tau7'i." 



Gesner also writes about De bobus Feris Indice, De Bonaso, 



De Bisonte, and Boves Sylvestres. In the Appendix ^ Gesner 



treats of De Uro and Bison again, the Urus being coloured 



dark, with no black points ; the Bison having black eyes 



and muzzle. Then he has De Bisone albo Scotico, and the 



illustration shows no black points at all, while the head and 



horns of the Bonasi are simply those of the Bos primigenius. 



Gesner's information regarding Uri and Bisonis came, apparently, 



from Vienna, and of the Bovis Scotico from Glasgow. ^ Reference 



has been made to the probability that " park cattle " were kept 



for fresh meat. We gain some idea of farming economy of the 



past from Tusser (1557). He tells us that 



" For Easter, at Martilmas hange up a biefe ; 

 For pease fed and stall fed, play pick-purse the thiefe. 



^ Appendix Historise. Quadrupedum uiuiparorum et ouiparorum 

 Conradi Gesneri. Tigurini. (1554). De Vro, p. 2; Bison, p. 4 ; De Bisone 

 albo Scotico, p. 4; Bonasi (ut conijcimus) Caput ad scleton expressum, 

 p. 5. 



2 Uri et Bisonis, Vuolfgangus Lazius Viennensis medicus, historicus, 

 et a consilius potentissimi Roraauorum regis Ferdinande es. 



Bovis feri Scotico et canum Scoticorum nil Britannicorum trium 

 generura, vir genere nobilis et literarum cognitione nobilior, Henricus 

 A. S. Clare, metropolitange ecclesiae, Glasguensis in Scotia, Decanus per 

 doctrissimum uruni loannem Ferrerium Pedemomanum. 



