INFLUENCE OF SEX. 



123 



bad ; whereas, when a Bakewell ram had been pur- 

 chased, I have seen a most remarkable change on the 

 quality of the sheep ; and, in several instances, where 

 the ewes (Highlanders) had been tolerable from which 

 they had bred, the cross was so nearly resembling a 

 new Leicester, as to deceive any one who was not a 

 thorough judge." Bewick, the natural historian, sup- 

 ports this opinion when speaking of the original breed 

 of wild cattle, still to be found in a few English and 

 Scottish parks. They are uniformly pure white, with 

 black or red ears and noses. He says, that cows, when 

 in season, used often to be turned into the park at 

 Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, and that, when 

 covered by the wild bull, all their produce was uni- 

 formly white, with red ears and noses. On the other 

 hand, the female is, also, prevalently believed to have 

 some share in the matter, and much may be adduced 

 as evidence of its power over the form of the offspring, 

 equally authentic with the former. Mr Ferguson, in 

 a paper on live-stock, in the Quarterly Journal of 

 Agriculture, relates the following apposite and amus- 

 ing story : — 



*' Naturalists are, I believe, nearly agreed, that the 

 influence of the male exceeds that of the female in com- 

 municating qualities to the offspring, and a very provi- 

 dential arrangement it is, in respect that good points 

 may be thus diffused with far more rapidity than could 

 otherwise occur. The choice of the female is by no 

 means, however, a matter of indifference, and it is only 

 by due attention to both that perfection can be looked 

 for. I recollect several years ago, at a distinguished 

 breeder's in Northumberland, meeting with a shrewd 



