24 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



from the bottom of the girth ; the back, again, from behind the 

 top of the shoulder all along the vertebrae, should be well covered ; 

 the loins should be wide and thick ; the edge-bone, or ridge, along 

 the quarter should form a straight line in continuation with the back, 

 and should also be well covered (which, in a great many animals, it 

 very imperfectly is) to the same level; the twist should be straight 

 down (square), moderately wide and deep, containing a great deal of 

 heavy flesh, and the legs should be well under the animal ; there 

 should be a thick coat of mossy hair, not sharp, or what is termed 

 wiry. Altogether, such an animal will have an ease and grace of 

 motion as it walks which is only attained when the whole formation is 

 in perfect harmony. There is, invariably too, a style and grandeur of 

 appearance unmistakeably stamping the ' high caste ' Shorthorn. 

 Maity well-bred animals will not feed level, but get patchy, which is 

 fatal to them as show animals, however stylish and fashionable in their 

 outline. It is, therefore, indispensable that an animal should lay on 

 flesh uniformly on every part, so as not to spoil the proportion of the 

 several parts. Rough shoulders are always accompanied by heavy 

 open shoulder-blades, and a slack bad girth, deficient through the 

 heart as well as at the top of the plates immediately behind the 

 shoulder. The animal is also sadly deficient in neck vein, being weak 

 and ill-filled where it joins the shoulder-points. 



Mr. Housman's description as given in the "History of Shorthorn 

 Cattle," edited by James Sinclair and published by Vinton & Co., is as 

 follows : 



" To describe the modern Shorthorn we begin with the female, and take first 

 that index to breed and character the head. In the highest type of head the 

 face shortish, broad across the eyes and forehead, generally a little hollow in the 

 outline of the face, and decidedly so between the eyes, finely cut out, like artistic 

 carving in wood or stone, down the face and round the muzzle ; the nostrils large 

 and open, cheeks not too fleshy, eyes bright but placid, horns wide set and some- 

 what flat at the roots, growing outward at first, and as the animal advances in 

 age forming gentle curves which should not be immediately upward. The 

 drooping horn is not generally liked, although it is not always in effect dis- 

 pleasing. A bend forward is considered preferable, and the points may incline 

 either inward or upward. Matched horns are in favour, yet a well-shaped head, 

 with a sprightly outlook, can bear differing horns without disadvantage to the 

 whole effect. The horns and the muzzle should be light coloured and clear, the 

 muzzle a palish buff, without stain of black, the horns yellow in the heifer, but 

 naturally becoming lighter in the cow. Those of some old cows take a pale, sea- 

 green hue with a polished quasi-transparency of surface. A little dark colour at 

 the points is permitted, not commended. Real jet black and chalky white are 

 objectionable horn colours. The throat, often 'leathery' in the well-fed calf 

 and yearling, should be somewhat fine, having but little loose skin under the root 

 of the tongue, without any considerable length of light neck in the mature 

 animal. Almost immediately behind the head, the sides of the neck should- 

 begin to swell towards the shoulder, where the flesh should evenly cover the 

 shoulder blades, and hide the prominence of the bones above the arm, techni- 

 cally called the shoulder-points. The ewe-neck is an ugly fault. In very 

 heavily fleshed animals the out-shoulder or ridge extending to the upper part 

 of the shoulder-blade towards the shoulder-point or junction of the shoulder- 

 blade and lower shoulder bone has sometimes an immense depth of muscle. 

 This may be considered excessive if the space before it is comparatively bare of 

 flesh, but if that be amply covered, the disturbance of absolute evenness of 

 surface may be pardoned. We find it in many of the best animals. The 



