174 CATTLE GALLOWAY 



pointed out in the case of other breeds. Some tribes show 

 white hairs in their tails, and a good many have white hairs 

 through their coats, like West Highlanders. Dun is a 

 comparatively rare but recognised colour of the breed, still 

 persistent in a few families especially in tribes hailing from 

 farms in Mochrum and Kirkcowan districts. John M'Kie of 

 Ernespie (1905) owns a very fine dun cow with twin dun 

 heifer calves at foot, and all her calves, with one exception, 

 have been dun, although their sires were black. Wm. 

 M'Connell, Glasnick, Kirkcowan, keeps a pure family of 

 duns that most frequently bear dun calves to a black bull. 

 Duns of superior quality still exist in other herds of the best 

 cattle. A beautiful dun yearling heifer from Chapleton took 

 first prize against all breeds at Dumfries Show in 1905. The 

 latter herd once contained a black cow with a grey stripe 

 from the chin down each side of the dewlap till they united 

 on the breast, a marking akin to that of the Polled Angus 

 grey-breast family. This marking is of a different class from 

 a natural swirl of reversed hair, which springs on patches like 

 the hair on a cow-lick, and is believed to indicate in-breeding. 



" There is no race of cattle in which the importance of 

 a good head is more generally or more strongly recognised 

 than in the Galloway." The head should be free from scurs, 

 wide and short a long head being one of the prominent 

 characters by which a Galloway cross can be distinguished 

 from a pure-bred animal ; the distance from the eye to the 

 wide nostril short; the forehead broad and square between 

 the eyes, carrying the width well up to the crown, which 

 should be low and rounded, not peaked like the crown of the 

 Polled Angus. The ear, resting on a short shank, is set on 

 rather farther back than in most breeds, and should point 

 upward and forward. The lobe or flap should be wide, 

 rounded at the top, and abundantly fringed with long hair. 

 The skin is comparatively thick and heavy on the scales, but 

 mellow to the touch, and covered with a profusion of long, 

 silky, and wavy hair with a mossy undercoat. Wiry or curly 

 hair is very objectionable. The flesh at Smithfield ranks as 

 "prime Scots" marbled beef well distributed over the frame 

 and down to the knees and hocks. Rounded buttocks are 

 most objectionable. 



The origin of the polled condition is veiled in doubt. 



