CHAP. i. SHORTHORN CATTLE. 23 



white, and a mixture of the two in great variety, the most fashionable 

 being a roan, more or less deep. A yellowish red is also occasionally 

 met with, but it is not so much liked, although it prevailed at one time 

 in some of the best animals of the breed ; Hubback, for instance, was 

 ' yellow, red, and white.' We have no right to object, therefore, to 

 animals of that colour, on the score of purity of blood, although we 

 have heard it done. Many dislike a white, but this seems rather a 

 prejudice than an objection which can be traced to good grounds. It 

 has been justly remarked ' that some of the very best of the improved 

 Shorthorns have been white ones.' " . 



The following is a description of a Shorthorn animal, 1 from the pen of 

 Mr. B. Smith, in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society (vol. xx. 

 1st series, p. 330) : ".He should have a symmetrical and compact form, 

 of sufficient size, on shortish legs ; the body should be covered evenly 

 with flesh, of a mellow and elastic nature, yet firm enough and springy 

 to the touch, following the fingers when the pressure is withdrawn ; 

 the forehead should be open, without a contracted air about it, and 

 tapering gracefully to the muzzle ; the eye prominent, yet placid ; 

 neck moderately long, nearly running into the shoulders, which should 

 be well laid, gracefully fitting into the fore-quarters : the girth good 

 over the heart ; the fore-arm, where it joins the body, broad and 

 tapering, with fine bone below the knee, and fitting level into the 

 girth, and so maintaining a straight line along the whole animal to 

 the extremity of the hip ; the neck vein should be prominent and well 

 filled up with flesh, running neatly into the shoulder points, which 

 should not be prominent (i.e., rough), but well covered, and the 

 muscle on the outside of the shoulder being well developed ; the ribs 

 should spring well and level from the backbone, increasingly so towards 

 the back rib, which should be well home to the quarter in fact, the 

 space here (termed the false rib) should carry on in a straight line 

 over the hip, gradually tapering on the side bones at the tail, but the 

 quarter must be well packed, not ' scooped out,' so to speak ; the hip- 

 bones should be dovetailed into the quarter and false rib so com- 

 pletely that one ought to be at a loss where to find them i.e., they 

 should not be too recognisable ; the flank will then, as I have already 

 said, be deep and full, forming a parallel line with the animal's back 



1 These doggerel lines, written more than half a century ago, may be accepted as describing 

 the characteristics of a good Shorthorn cow of the time (1830) : 



" She's long in her face, she's fine in her horn, 

 She'll quickly get fat without cake or corn ; 

 She's clean in her jaws, and full in her chine, 

 She's heavy in flank, and wide in her loin. 



She's broad in her ribs, and long in her rump, 

 A straight and flat back, without ever a hump : 

 She's wide in her hips, and calm in her eyes, 

 She's fine in her shoulders, and thin in her thighs. 



She's light in her neck, and small in her tail, 

 She's wide in her breast, and good at the pail ; 

 She's fine in her bone, and silky of skin 

 She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within." 



