712 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVl. STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



The cows are small ; and the bulls are smaller than the steers. When 

 properly developed by two years of work, the oxen are splendidly filled 

 out, and are certainly the most beautiful of all the domesticated ox tribe. 

 The illustration we give will show the Devon ox in good working con- 

 dition. The cut of a high-caste bull, illustrating especially the full, soft, 

 mossy coat of hair, as given in Chapter I, is a most excellent and life- 

 hke drawing. 



VI. Points of the Devon. 



Youatt describes the points of the Devon of his day most minutely. 

 Except that they have now, through better feeding in America, been in- 

 creased in size and early maturity, the description is as applicable to-day 

 as when it was written. It is as follows : 



" The horn of the bull ought to ])e neither too low nor too high, taper- 

 ing at the points, not too thick at the tip. 



The eye should be clear,' bright, and prominent, showing much of the 

 white, and have around it a circle of dark orange color. 



The forehead should be flat, indented, and small, for, by the smallness 

 of the forehead, the purity of the breed is very much estimated. 



The cheek should be small, and the muzzle fine ; the nose must be of a 

 clear yellow. 



The nostril should be high and open ; the hair curled about the head. 



The neck should be thick, and that sometimes almost to a fault. 



Excepting in the head and neck, the form of the bull does not mate- 

 rially differ from that of the ox, but he is considerably smaller. There 

 are exceptions, however, to this rule. 



The head of the ox is small, very singularly so, relatively to his bulk ; 

 yet it has a striking breadth of forehead ; it is clean and free from flesh 

 about the jaws. 



The eye is very prominent, and the animal has a pleasing vivacity of 

 countenance, distinguishing it from the heavy aspect of many other 

 breeds. 



Its neck is long and thin, admirably adapting it for the collar, or the 

 more common and ruder yoke. 



It is accounted one of the characteristics of good cattle, that the line of 

 the neck, from the horns to the withers, should scarcely deviate from that 

 of the back. 



VII. Notable Characteristics. 



"In the Devon ox, however, there is a peculiar rising at the shoulder, 

 reminding us of the blood-horse, and essentially connected with the free 

 and quick action by which this breed has ever been distinguished. 



It has little or no dewlap depending from the throat. 



