HAMILTON OR CADZOW PARK BREED 41 



A complete skeleton of an excellent polled specimen of 

 the breed, obtained from Dr Knox's collection, is preserved in 

 the Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh University. One old 

 servant, as recently as 1889, recollected that the late Duke 

 Alexander would not allow any calves that tended to grow 

 horns to be preserved. There is sufficient evidence indeed to 

 show that the points and characteristics of the herds of wild 

 cattle have been kept constant or altered to suit the wishes of 

 individual owners by artificial selection, viz., by destroying 

 those that did not conform to a certain standard. The uni- 

 formity in colour and the extent of the dark points have been 

 regulated by this means. There is a tradition that a West 

 Highland bull broke into the park, and that through his 

 descendants, by selection, the cattle reacquired horns. 

 Harting makes the statement with regard to the transition 

 period that " the cows seldom have horns." The numbers were 

 reduced to thirteen cows and a bull by the last epizootic out- 

 break of rinderpest. In breeding up the existing herd, it 

 was impossible to kill off all animals with imperfect mark- 

 ings, so that in appearance the cattle became less uniform in 

 type. The herd also suffered on account of closer in-and-in 

 breeding, due to the reduction of the numbers. This is to be 

 inferred from the low condition of its members during winter 

 before the introduction of a Chillingham Park bull (Plate II.). 

 The constitution in this instance suffered more in the matter 

 of hardiness required to resist the inclemency of the weather 

 than in the powers of breeding, as in 1888 no fewer than 

 twenty-one cows out of a total of twenty-seven brought forth 

 calves. The bulls are usually put to the cows in July, and 

 the calves come in April. The calves are weaned when frost 

 appears, and after Hallowe'en (October 3ist) the herd is fed 

 on the best of hay (50 tons being required for forty cattle) ; 

 Swedish turnips are given for a time, and the bulky food is 

 supplemented by a daily allowance of 3 Ibs. of linseed cake 

 for a full-grown animal. Feeding with hay has been practised 

 for many years, but cake is a comparatively new addition to 

 the rations. 



On 23rd March 1901, the herd consisted of twenty-six 

 cows, twelve bulls, five yearling queys, and seven newly-born 

 calves. Eighteen calves were also expected. A bull is used 

 only for three years ; and, as a goodly number of spare bulls 



