170 UNGULATES. 



the limbs slender. The colour of the skin is yellowish orange, and the prevailing 

 tint of the hair reddish-brown, more or less mixed with white. 



The rich red soil of Devonshire is tenanted by a breed of cattle 

 readily distinguished by the deep red colour of their hair. They 

 have orange-yellow skins and fine tapering horns. Mr. Low describes them as 

 "of a light and graceful form, agile, and suited for active labour. They fatten 

 with sufficient facility in good pastures, and in a temperate climate ; but 

 they are inferior in hardiness and the power of subsisting on scanty herb- 

 age to the mountain cattle of Scotland and Wales." The cows are relatively 

 small, and their yield of milk not great, although excellent in quality and rich 

 in cream. 



Omitting mention of the Sussex and Glamorganshire breeds, as 

 Herefords. , . . TT j 



being of minor importance, we pass on to the well-known xieretords, 



easily recognised by their large size, white faces, and dark red or reddish brown 

 colour, marked more or less with white on the back and under-parts. Mr. Low 

 considers this breed remotely related to the Devon; and it exhibits the same 

 inferiority in the size of the cows, and a similar deficiency in the yield of milk. 

 The breed is, however, an excellent one for fattening, and is hence in much favour 

 in the West of England. 



The longhorned breed, which is likewise from the West of 



England and is also largely reared in Ireland, is one which has of 

 late years steadily declined in favour in this country. The original breed of long- 

 horns was subject to considerable variation in size ; but the prevailing colour of 

 the hair was either black or brown, with a white stripe down the middle of the 

 back, and more or less white on the body. The hair was abundant and the skin 

 thick and dark. The long horns generally curved downwards at the tips ; but in 

 southern and eastern England they often turned up. Ultimately great improve- 

 ments were effected in the breed, and the knowledge thus acquired paved the way 

 for the gradual development of the shorthorns, by which the longhorns have been 

 so largely supplanted. 



The shorthorn breed was originally an East Anglian race of 



cattle, but was modified into its present perfection in Durham, whence 

 it is often known by the name of Durham shorthorn. The illustration on p. 167 

 represents an ox of the best strain of this breed. In these animals the height of 

 the body is comparatively low, but there is great depth, and the chest, back, and 

 loins are remarkable for their width. The skin is light-coloured, and the hair 

 either reddish brown or white, or a mixture of the two, or the well-known straw- 

 berry colour. The muzzle should be flesh-coloured; and the horns are short, 

 curving inwards, light in colour, and frequently somewhat compressed. The skin 

 is soft and yielding, and the general form of the body square and massive, with 

 upright shoulders and roomy hind- quarters. The great advantages of the short- 

 horns are that they are hardy and good-tempered animals, of large size and 

 eminently distinguished by the rapidity with which they reach maturity of flesh 

 and muscle. Although inferior in their yield of milk to the Suffolk and Ayrshire 

 breeds, shorthorns are now more widely spread over England, both as dairy and 

 fatting cattle, than any other kind. 



