Rise and Pfogrcss of SJiortltoriis. 319 



V ersion oi' the Holdcrness ; and others, with equal zeal, that their 

 tap-root is to be found in the West Highlands, or that the earlier 

 breeders always fell back on its bulls for a cross if they thought 

 that their herd was losing constitution. There is certainly some 

 confirmation of this opinion in the peculiarly sharp horns and 

 ink-black noses which will appear at intervals. The admirers 

 of the ' Princesses ' make good " the claims of long descent " as 

 far back as 1739, on Stephenson's farm at Ketton ; and it is also ' 

 said that the ancestress of the ' Duchesses ' roamed in Stanwick 

 Park two hundred years ago, and that none of the tribe had 

 been out of the Northumberland family until Charles Colling 

 bought them. Be this as it may, the Teeswaters' capability of 

 development, which the St. Quintin, the Pennyman, and the 

 Milbank families were among the first to recognise, had sug- 

 gested itself to many a longheaded Durham farmer as Avell as 

 the Brothers Colling ; but private herdbooks were hardly in 

 vogue, and the patient pilgrimage of Coates, through sunshine 

 and shower, with his grey pony and saddlebags, has not had the 

 effect of tracing the breed farther back than four crosses beyond 

 "Hubback" (319), who Avas calved in '77. 



If the red and white Studley bull (626), bred by Sharter of 

 Chilton, and the founder of the Gwynne or "Princess" tribe, 

 may claim to be the " Abraham of shorthorns," James Brown's 

 red bull (97), and Jolly's bull (337), are very early names on 

 the roll. Seventeen or eighteen ci'osses separate the " Duchesses " 

 from the one, and the Maynard and Mason tribes are in direct 

 descent from the other. The Herdbook bull numbers, we may 

 here observe, run through fifteen volumes, from " Abelard " (1) 

 to " Zinc " (21,135).* Only 710 bulls were registered in the first 

 volume, which was published in 1822 ; but the fifteenth, which 

 brings the registration up to the close of 18G2, shows an acces- 

 sion of 1959 in two years, and also contains about 2700 cows 

 and as many heifer calves, the Avhole of which are contributed by 

 832 Ijreeders. 



The germ of this wonderful array must have been considered 

 an " improved " county breed as far liack as 1787. Hutchinson 

 of Sockburn had then a cow good enough to be modelled for 

 the cathedral vane, and had also beaten Rol^ert (jelling in a bull 

 class. Other Durham breeders stood proudly on their family 

 tribes. The " Lizzies " were with Charge of Newton, and 

 Rose's and Fisher's stock can be traced to Cornforth of Barforth. 

 Robert Colling had set his seal to Hill of Blackwell's herd, and 

 nearly all the best men were dipping into the blood of Milbank 



* The sixteenth volume, wliich has just been published, brings the numbers up 

 to " Zealous' (23,252). 



VOL. I. S. S. Y 



