WHITE FOREST BREED. 119 



to five inches long, especially some bulls. Their 

 limbs have become stouter and their heads shorter 

 than the Chillingham breed at the other end of the 

 ancient wood. Those at Drumlanrig have become 

 polled, presumably in both sexes. At Gisburne 

 Park, they are not only hornless, but only tlie inside 

 of their ears are colored, and occasionally they lose 

 their dark muzzle. At Burton Constable, among 

 their fertile pastures, we see an increase of size, the 

 effect of the abundance of the feed ; and the end of 

 their tails have become black. In Staffordshire, we 

 observe the tendency to become entirely black. 



When even selection finds it so difficult to preserve 

 the uniformity of the same herd for successive years, 

 and fails even more glaringly when applied to differ- 

 ent herds under varied circumstances, we can hardly 

 be justified in rejecting these white cattle, as the 

 primitive or foundation stock of existing breeds of 

 that county on account of their color alone. 



The wild state seems peculiarly favorable to 

 uniformity of coloring, as the causes which have 

 operated to produce the result on a few, act likewise 

 upon all, and are constant in their action. Any 

 deviations from the markings appear to become ab- 

 sorbed in the multitude, so as to have little oppor- 

 tunity for preservation. In civilization, on the 

 contrary, we have the element of human will, a 

 highly complex and variable possession, which inter- 

 rupts the apparent harmony of uncultured nature by 

 rendering new combinations possible and probable. 



That a slight interference with a natural state will 



