LINE BREEDING. 117 



largely attributed to less favorable conditions of life; yet animals 

 roaming over large parks and fed during severe winters can hardly 

 be considered as placed under very unfavorable conditions. 



Another close student of English cattle, Mr. 

 H. H. Dixon, who contributed so many delight- 

 ful articles to the press over the signature of 

 "The Druid/' gives some corroborative state- 

 ments in regard to the Chillingham cattle in 

 "Saddle and Sirloin." Among other things he 

 says: "The steers weigh * * * from forty 

 stone to fifty stone of fourteen pounds." That 

 is from five hundred and sixty to seven hun- 

 dred pounds, from which it is very plain that 

 Mr. Darwin has not exaggerated the great de- 

 terioration in size. Prof. Miles, who is an ad- 

 vocate of close breeding, cites Mr. Darwin's 

 account of the Chillingham cattle and says: 

 "When I saw the herd in 1874 it numbered 

 about sixty of all ages and sexes. Among 

 them were several steers. The park-keeper 

 informed me that they produced from ten 

 to twelve calves annually, which agrees 

 closely with Mr. Darwin's estimate [a little 

 lower, it will be observed]. They are certainly 

 not very prolific, yet the number of calves is, 

 perhaps, as great as could be expected under 

 the conditions in which they are placed. They 

 exhibited no indications of degeneracy or lack 

 of constitutional vigor, and I was assured that 

 they were both healthy and hardy. After 

 several hundred years of close breeding they 



