COLOUR AND EARLY STRAINS OF THE BREED 115 



the ancient white forest cattle of Wales, from which it 

 partially inherited the tendency to develop and perpetuate 

 the " broken " coloured character exhibited in the white 

 markings. The special form of these markings, according 

 to what seems the best authority on the subject, was given by 

 selection after Lord Scudamore, who died in 1671, had intro- 

 duced from Flanders a number of white-faced Flemish cattle 

 of superior size and quality ; by a white-faced bull calf which 

 appeared as a sport in the herd of an ancestor of P. Tully ; and 

 by a red Yorkshire bull with a white face, which was said to 

 be imported by Wm. Galliers of Wigmore Grange, and used 

 in the Hereford district soon after 1750. These historical 

 instances, and also the natural tendency in the original red 

 Hereford to sport back to the white ancestor as is even now 

 the case with such decidedly distinct and different breeds as 

 the West Highland and Scotch polls are sufficient to account 

 for the bald head and white underline and extremities of the 

 Hereford. The cattle of Tully of Huntingdon were probably 

 the largest ; and they had a greater proportion of white than 

 animals of other herds. The celebrated white bull bred by 

 T. A. Knight at Downton was believed to have descended 

 from this strain. Tomkins put no store upon uniformity of 

 colour, and for a time (as late as 1845, when the Herd Book 

 appeared) the breed was subdivided into four classes mottled 

 faced, dark grey, light grey, and white faced. The latter 

 alone are left among pure-bred cattle. Youatt (1835) throws 

 some light on the question of colour: 



" Hereford oxen are considerably larger than the North- 

 Devon, they are usually of a darker red, some of them are 

 brown and even yellow, and a few are brindled, but they are 

 principally distinguished by their white faces, throats, and 

 bellies. In a few the white extends to the shoulders. The 

 old Herefords were brown or red-brown, with not a spot of 

 white among them. It is only within the last fifty or sixty 

 years that it has been the fashion to breed for white faces. 

 Whatever may be thought of the change of colour, the 

 present breed is certainly far superior to the old one." 



T. Rowlandson, in the Royal Agricultural Society Journal 

 (1853), confirms Youatt's statement : 



" The old Herefords are said to have been brown or reddish 

 brown, and it is only within the last eighty or ninety years 

 that it has become the fashion to breed for white faces." 



