CHARACTER AND POINTS 137 



when " raised " by fear they will not charge unless cornered 

 or cut off from escape. As beef-producers, they are slow in 

 coming to maturity about a year longer than most other 

 British breeds but the ultimate product is unsurpassed in 

 quality in the leading meat markets of the kingdom. It 

 has been remarked that their breed-defect is a tendency to 

 flat ribs and a slight want of depth through the heart, but 

 these defects are being eliminated. 



In the old droving days the great mart for Highland cattle 

 required for England was Falkirk, where trysts were held in 

 August, September, and October. While the demand has 

 continued, the numbers marketed have so gone down, that 

 West Highland " tores " are usually dear in comparison with 

 those of other breeds. 



John Robertson, late agent to the Duke of Atholl, in 

 John Coleman's Cattle of Great Britain^ says : 



" A well-bred animal, of almost any species, is a pleasant 

 object; but there are perhaps few animals familiarly known 

 to us so graceful in form, colour, and movement as a 

 thoroughly well-bred Highland ox or heifer. In form it 

 possesses all the characteristics so much and so justly prized 

 in the Shorthorn the straight back, the short legs, the 

 broad chest, the breadth of loin and depth of rib, and, in 

 short, the squareness and solidity of form which always 

 imply weight, whether in man or beast ; while the noble 

 expanding horns, the fine, full, and fearless eye, the short, 

 broad, well-bred muzzle, the shaggy coat of richest black, or 

 red, or dun, or brindled colour, impart a picturesqueness 

 which is still further enhanced by that grace and delibera- 

 tion in movement so distinctive of all animals reared in 

 perfect freedom." 



Additional characteristic points are the "forelock between 

 the eyes, wild, long, and bushy," and on the neck a hairy 

 fringe or mane : 



"In the bulls the horns should be sappy and substantial, 

 and come level out of the head, slightly inclined forwards, 

 and also slightly rising towards the points," a dropping 

 between the crown and the commencement of the curve is 

 "a very bad fault," and some prefer that there should 

 be no rise. The horns of the cow usually "come squarer 

 out from the head than in the male, rise sooner, and are 

 somewhat longer, though they preserve their substance and 

 a rich reddish appearance to the very tips " ; at times the 



