128 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



bright and prominent, encircled by an orange-coloured ring; 

 the jaws clean, and free from flesh ; the ears thin. 



The horns of the female are long and spreading, gracefully 

 turned upwards, and tapering off towards the ends. The 

 general aspect of the head should in many points resemble that 

 of the deer. The horns of the bull are thicker set and more 

 highly curved, in some instances standing out nearly square, 

 with only a slight inclination upwards. 



Red is the true Devon colour, which varies from a dark to a 

 lighter, or almost to a chesnut shade. In summer the skin is 

 mottled with beautiful spots of a slightly darker shade than the 

 ground colour of the skin. 



The outline of a fat Devon very nearly approaches a parallelo- 

 gram. The frame is level from the tops of the shoulders to the 

 tail ; the belly is longitudinally straight, and well filled out at 

 the flanks. The breast is wide, coming out prominently between 

 the fore legs, and extending downwards almost to the knee 

 joint. The neck is long and thin, increasing towards the 

 shoulder, which is tapered off to meet it. The ribs project at 

 right angles to the back, with wide flat loins, and long rumps 

 well filled out, thus enabling them to be loaded with more beef 

 in the most valuable parts than almost any other breed. 



As converters of vegetable into animal food, breed against 

 breed, they return as much per acre, or for weight of food 

 consumed, as any. Animals possess no magical power of pro- 

 ducing beef, except from the food which they consume ; it is 

 therefore contended that, if the herbage of any given number 

 of acres were to be consumed by Devons, they would produce in 

 the aggregate as much beef as any other breed, a greater number 

 being required to consume it ; at the same time there would be 

 a greater weight of the most valuable beef, and less of the 

 coarse joints and offal. This is the reason why Devons and 

 Scotch cattle sell first in the morning, and command the best 

 prices, in London and other markets. Mr. Wainwright, a 

 Devon breeder in the State of New York, says : " Their beef is 

 of a fine quality, and brings a high price in the markets. They 

 withstand extremes of temperature. On a poor pasture, from 

 their peculiar build, they are enabled to travel rapidly over the 

 ground without fatigue, and get sufficient nourishment where a 



