PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION 



THE present edition of this work has been rewritten, 

 more than doubled in size, and, it is hoped, more than 

 quadrupled in value. It has been in process of preparation 

 for over three years, and its date of publication has been 

 more than once changed, owing to the magnitude of the 

 work of finishing a book dealing with such a vast number of 

 breeds of animals, all of which had to be treated separately 

 from the historical as well as from the present-day point of 

 view. The modern history of many of the breeds of British 

 Live Stock has been undergoing manufacture at a rapid rate, 

 and the increase of the money value of good cattle has 

 stimulated an increase of interest. The influence of the 

 foreign buyer, who insists upon a registered pedigree with 

 each animal, has been so beneficial that hardly a breed of any 

 importance in the country now exists that does not possess 

 a Breed Society, which, among other chartered duties regis- 

 tered under the Limited Liability Companies Act, annually 

 issues a list of breeders, and records their stock-breeding 

 transactions. 



Special thanks are due to the secretaries of these Breed 

 Societies, who have rendered valuable assistance by providing' 

 copies of the historical notices of the breeds in their Society 

 publications, and photographs of typical specimens of the 

 animals concerned, and also the most recent information relat- 

 ing to them. But, while fully acknowledging indebtedness 

 for assistance rendered, I assume the entire responsibility 

 for what has been stated generally as well as in relation to 



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