138 CATTLE THE WEST HIGHLAND 



horns " come more level from the head, with a peculiar back-set 

 curve, and very wide sweep which is more graceful in appear- 

 ance. The neck should be clean and without dewlap ; from 

 behind the shoulder, the back fully developed and beautifully 

 rounded, any slight sinking or hollow being most decidedly 

 objectionable. . . . Viewed generally the quarters are square 

 between the hips and the tail, and from between the tail 

 right down to between the hind feet ; the legs short and strong ; 

 the bones strong, broad, and straight; the hoofs well set-in 

 and large, and the legs well feathered with hairs"; the hair 

 in great profusion (especially in the unhoused islands cattle), 

 long and wavy, a curl being faulty. 



In addition to the colours already named, there are fawns 

 (resembling certain shades of Guernsey cattle) and dun 

 whites ; and occasionally pure whites with black points like 

 wild cattle occur, which enhance the value of a whole drove 

 of cattle in a market, owing to the amount of attention they 

 attract from observers. The brandered or brindled cattle, 

 Youatt defines as " showing a mixture of red and brown in 

 stripes," which usually run perpendicularly. 



The white relationship in West Highland cattle is further 

 seen by the occurrence of a pure white hair through the coats 

 of a very large number of them. Though not more frequent 

 in the black and reddish-brown than in other colours, yet 

 owing to the contrast it is more easily observed in them ; but 

 in all cases one requires to examine within two or three 

 yards to find it. Parallel instances are to be seen in the 

 white hair through the coats of a great many Galloways and 

 Black Welsh cattle. 



The Herd of the Duke of Atholl, numbering about 50, 

 was established in 1863 by animals got from Breadalbane 

 some time after the wild white cattle (also Highland, page 49) 

 had been got rid of. Two-thirds of the prize-winners in 

 recent years have been of the Atholl blood. In the herd 

 there is a strain, which at intervals has produced eight swan- 

 white animals. It originated in a white cow, with a little black 

 round the eyes and muzzle, and a few black hairs in the ear, 

 that the late Marquis of Breadalbane got as a wedding 

 present from the Duke of Argyll. No white bull has been 

 kept, but when a white calf appears it comes usually of 

 light-coloured parents. Some white cows produce coloured 

 calves, and some white ones by coloured bulls. The coloured 



