%fit Cattle, Si^eep, atttr figs 



OF 



(BxtKt Britain. 



THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY. 



OENED CATTLE have been cultivated in this 

 country from the earliest times. We are told that 

 the Britons neglected the art of cultivation, so well 

 known to the Romans, and contented themselves 

 with looking after cattle, living on their flesh and milk. No 

 doubt breeds were kept up by a process of natural selection. 

 Little care would be bestowed upon the selection of sires, but 

 the stronger animals would be reserved as males, and, running 

 out with the cows, lived in a condition of semi-wildness, of which 

 we see instances now in the white cattle of Chillingham Park. 

 It is probable that the descendants of the original cattle are 

 those which we see in Sussex, Devonshire, Wales, and Scotland, 

 and it would not be difficult to trace a certain likeness. They 

 are all middle-horned type, but climate and food have doubtless 

 caused great changes. The Longhorns, which were originally 

 derived from Ireland, first took root in Lancashire, and from 

 thence spread to the midland counties, where for a time they 

 formed the prevailing breed, being superseded by the Hereford, 

 which probably were derived from the same stock as the Devon. 



B 



