12 AYRSHIEE. 



towards the sea and convex on the land side. Ayr, 

 at the joining of river to sea, the most considerable 

 town, is midway between the northern and southern 

 extremities, some eighty miles apart. Although the 

 seat of the origin of the breed, as improved, is 

 placed to the northwestward of Ayr, the cattle have 

 been so long since dispersed over the country, and 

 have been cultivated with such care, that the best may 

 now be found in a region of which no place is much 

 above a dozen miles distant from the home of Burns. 



To offer a portrait of this breed, that shall be true 

 to nature, is not so easy a matter as may at first ap- 

 pear. While the individuals possess that in common 

 which clearly portrays their kinship, there is withal 

 much of individuality, as marked by color, form, and 

 quality ; but none are so different from their type as 

 to cause a good judge of the stock to think one a 

 member of another breed. 



When there is a suggestion of a cross, there yet 

 clings to the Ayrshire an indescribable something, 

 an air, a style, that sets her apart from all others.. 

 Words have not the nice shades of meaning to give 

 conveyance to the thought. 



Look at Rosa Bonheur's group, "A Morning in the 

 Highlands." See her brace of shelties resistingly 

 led by the Highland lad. What freshness ! The 

 very spirit of nature is there. 



The serene, mild expression of the Short-horn 

 comes of breeding ; nature, unassisted, not often 

 gives it. It is a subdued, perhaps may become a 

 care-worn look. What a dead look does the ill-bred 

 native cow turn towards us ! 



