FOUR-HORNED SHEEP 



OF late years, at any rate, the attention of British breeders 

 of sheep and cattle has been directed to the obliteration 

 rather than to the development of horns ; these weapons of 

 offence and defence being not only quite unnecessary to 

 domesticated animals which are never exposed to the attacks 

 of beasts of prey, but often being the cause of serious 

 damage, either from the animals fighting when in the open, 

 or goring one another when crowded together during transit 

 by rail. Among cattle the estimation in which " polled " 

 breeds are held at the present day, and the practical dis- 

 appearance of the old longhorns, are excellent examples of 

 this fashion ; while among sheep, if we except the mountain 

 and Dorset breeds, the majority of those bred in this country 

 are hornless. 



If, however, fashion and custom had set in the opposite 

 direction, there is little doubt that some extraordinary 

 developments in the form, size, or number of horns might 

 have been witnessed in both these groups of animals. 

 Length of horn was indeed a feature in the old-fashioned 

 breed of British long-horned cattle, and the massiveness and 

 size of the horns of the humped cattle of Gallaland and 

 Abyssinia, as well as the length frequently attained by the 

 same appendages in the trek-oxen of Cape Colony, bear 

 testimony to the facility with which developments in this 

 direction can be encouraged. 



