37 



York (those in Holderness being particularly famous) and Lincoln. 

 The early improvement of the breed was carried out in the counties 

 of Durham and York with the lower Teesdale district as chief 

 centre; thus "Teeswater" became one of the early names of the 

 breed, which was also known as the " Durham." After the 

 designation of Shorthorn had been universally adopted in Great 

 Britain, the name Durham lingered in North America, and 

 it is still in common use in some countries. The old Shorthorn 

 possessed dual-purpose qualities of conspicuous merit, and derived 

 many of its qualities from bulls imported from Holland which, 

 particularly in the seventeenth century, were used to cross with 

 native cows. 



Colour." Red, white and roan " are the characteristic colours 

 of the breed. Roan, the commonest colour in Great Britain, 

 is peculiar to the Shorthorn and its crosses. A deep cherry red 

 is the colour in highest favour abroad. Red of a light yellowish 

 shade is now disliked, although it was formerly common, and was 

 supposed to be accompanied by superior milking qualities. 

 Distinct " patches ; ' (like those of an Ayrshire) of either red 

 or white are regarded with disfavour. White is out of favour 

 abroad and with most breeders at home, with the exception of 

 those who produce blue-grey cattle by mating a white Shorthorn 

 bull with Galloway cows. The prejudice is, however, not so marked 

 as formerly and quite recently a white bull calf was sold by auction 

 for 1,000 guineas. 



Brindled colours, common in crosses with Channel Islands cattle, 

 never occur among pure Shorthorns, and black is not a Shorthorn 

 colour. 



The muzzle, palate, lips and eyelids should be flesh-coloured ; 

 blackness or cloudiness in the hairless part of the nose is 

 regarded as objectionable ; the skin should be of a creamy white 

 colour. The characteristic horn of the breed is short, waxy, flattened 

 laterally, and slightly curved in a forward direction, blunt and free 

 from black on the tips. The horns of cows are finer and longer 

 than those of bulls and curve inwards as well as forward, in both 

 sexes they should however remain almost on a level with the 

 crown. Coarseness and blackness of horn, formerly characteristic 

 of certain strains of Scotch Shorthorns, and cocked horns are 

 objectionable. 



HISTORY OP THE BREED. 



Although the modern types of the breed were, one after the 

 other, formed during the nineteenth century, there is little doubt 

 that the breed had been previously kept practically pure and 

 jealously tended by a number of breeders for many years. 

 Coates 1 Shorthorn Herd Book was not published till 1822, but 

 for about 50 years before that date prominent breeders had 

 kept records of the breeding of their best bulls. Within the 

 breed itself, cattle of superior quality trace back to a limited 

 number of sires. The Studley Bull (626), calved in 1737, was one 

 of the first impressive sires of which a record remains ; but the 

 most famous of all great stock-getters among the foundation animals 



