THE FOUNDLINGS 85 



plum, or mulberry colour is quite common, namely, 

 the Jersey ; and when the Jersey cattle of this 

 colour are crossed with red or black cattle, the 

 brindles of the Longhorns and Highlanders are 

 produced. 1 And from Jersey it is but a step 

 to France and another to Switzerland for cattle 

 of the same colour. 



These four sets of cattle the Highlanders, 

 Longhorns, Jerseys, and Swiss being thus con- 

 nected, the question next arising is, when and 

 how did these blackish-brown cattle come to 

 Britain ? There is no clear mention of them till 

 about a hundred years ago ; but even then they 

 were numerous. During the eighteenth century 

 the cattle by which it was most sought to improve 

 all others were the Longhorns. They were carried 

 in great numbers to Ireland, to other parts of 

 England and Wales, to Scotland, and even to 

 the Orkneys. Many of them, as we know, were 

 brindled, and when their brindled descendants 

 were bred together the ancestral blackish-brown 

 was bound to appear. Hence the suggestion in 

 the beginning of this chapter that we do not 

 know that the blackish-brown cattle themselves 

 came to Britain. Their parents may have come. 



But where did the Longhorns get their brindled 

 colour ? They originated in that part of England 



1 Cross-breds between Sussex and Devon bulls and Jersey 

 cows almost invariably come brindle. C. J. Davies in Live 

 Stock Journal, January i, 1909. 



