126 EVOLUTION OF BRITISH CATTLE 



the hornless grew up side by side not only 

 on neighbouring farms but in the same fields, 

 claiming frequently to be children of the same 

 parents. At the same time, there were colours 

 and markings among them not now seen at 

 all : dun, yellow, " what Youatt called ' silver- 

 coloured yellow,'" and white stripes along the 

 back and belly. Many, too, of both kinds were 

 not much more than half the weight of their 

 present-day descendants. 



Still further back — say a hundred and fifty 

 years ago — they were all, or nearly all, of this 

 smaller size ; but the horned kind were in the 

 majority in the inland parts, while the hornless 

 kind, which were creeping inwards, prevailed 

 near the coasts. Beyond that we have no direct 

 evidence, but tradition says the inland cattle 

 were originally horned and the maritime cattle 

 hornless. So, do we not eventually reach back 

 to the arrival of the long-headed, high-polled, 

 hornless whity-grey or light dun Scandinavian 

 cattle upon the coasts of Scotland, and are we 

 not reminded of the traditional battles between 

 Danes and natives and between the white Danes 

 and the black Danes in the neighbourhoods of 

 Cruden in Aberdeenshire and Lunan Bay in 

 Forfarshire ? 



The first crosses between the Scandinavian 

 cattle and the black horned natives were dun 

 hornless masqueraders, which, when they were 



