COUNTIES OF ELGIN AND NAIRN. 115 



in local showyards. Matched with cows of excellent character, 

 they give rise to a very superior stock, which gained considerable 

 distinction in different parts of the country. " Baron Brace " 

 was the sire of Lord Bothwell, which won several champion 

 cups. The herd at present consists of 26 cows, 1 aged bull, 

 3 yearling bulls, 2 two-year-old heifers, 11 one-year-old 

 heifers, and 21 calves, thus making a total of 64 animals. 

 "Loftcha," the aged bull, is the sire of most of the heifers 

 and calves. Excepting this bull, all the herd are the descend- 

 ants of "Eliza," "Shempston Lass," and '^ Myrtle 27th." 

 ''Myrtle 27th "is after Ben Voilo (28017), and out of Myrtle 

 20 ch, and is still in the herd. There is still a good remnant 

 of the Waverley stock in the herd. Mr Lawson is an exceedingly 

 careful breeder, and is very much opposed to overfeeding for 

 exhibition. He generally disposes of bis bulls at public sales, 

 and purchasers who are acquainted with the excellence of his 

 stock never fail to make a good offer. 



Sunbank. — Of the Sunbank shorthorns not so much is heard 

 as of some others. It is not a large herd, nor is anything done 

 in it specially to draw notice to its merits in showyards. It 

 has been in existence for fully twenty years, and has been care- 

 fully and successfully managed. To found it, "Dowager 

 Countess" was bought from Coulardbank in 1861. She was an 

 eight-year-old C3w at that time, and had sprung from the finest 

 family in Mr Stephen's fine old herd at Coulardbank. It was 

 the oldest family in Morayshire, if not in the north of Scotland. 

 Mr Stephen was the first man who took over the Spey a short- 

 horn that founded a family. He believed that Mr Mellis, 

 Spynie, bought a heifer before him, but nothing was heard of it 

 afterwards. Mr Stephen's " Countess," which he brought from 

 England about 1836, was the first of the tribe that proved of 

 so much value at Coulardbank, Inchbroom, Sunbank, and many 

 other places. They were descended from " Carnation" by 

 Apollo, and from cows by Merlin (429), Alfred (23), Butterfly 

 (104), and Suwarrow (636). "Dowager Countess," bought by 

 the late Mr Kay to found the Sunbank herd, produced a calf 

 the first month she was in Mr liay's possession, but slipped 

 next year and went to the butcher. Her calf of 1861, how- 

 ever, " Countess" became a handsome cow, after a son Picotee 

 (15063), red in colour and good in figure, liound her there soon 

 arose offspring that made a considerable herd, — " Verbiua'' in 

 1863, when her dam was only two-years-old; " Ilosebud" in 

 1864; "Flora" in 1865; "Pope" in 186G; " Wilhelmina" in 

 1867; "Sultan" in 1868; "Sarah" in 1869; "Nancy" in 1870; 

 " Red Knight " in 1871, which was sold at £35, 14s. From this 

 cow and her descendants every animal in the herd came, for 

 the first seventeen years of its existence. The first female that 



