CH. X.] A COW OF EXPENSIVE TASTES. 141 



the matter of diet, their cattle, it would seem, 

 occasionally take after them in this respect. I was 

 one day fishing the Ness out of a boat, when I 

 noticed a cow inquisitively examining some things 

 which I had left by the water-side. On landing 

 I found she had been influenced by other mo- 

 tives than those of mere curiosity, having eaten 

 up the whole of one side (the button half) of a 

 new macintosh. Happening shortly afterwards 

 to meet the miller whose property she was, I 

 exhibited to him the mangled evidence of her 

 misdeeds, expecting at least to meet with some- 

 thing like sympathy for my loss. His sympathies 

 were however all on the other side. He surveyed 

 it for some time in silence and with an air of 

 dejection, and then simply exclaimed, "Eh, but 

 she'll no be the better o' the buttons !" 



