PEDIGREE. 225 



Butterfly by Master Butterfly. It might have 

 been quite as natural to follow the male line 

 and say the family was of "Dicky Barker's 

 Blacknose" tribe, or of the Oxford tribe from 

 Royal Oxford (18774) ; and it is worthy of note 

 that the early breeders certainly paid more 

 attention to the bulls as the chief element in 

 the pedigree than to the cows. The present 

 popular form of pedigree was originally drawn 

 out as representing simply a list of bulls used 

 in making successive crosses. The cows were 

 quite neglected. Thus in the earliest time 

 the pedigree of Baron Butterfly would have 

 simply been given as by 2d Duke of Grasmere 

 by Airdrie Renick, by St. Valentine, by Impe- 

 rial Duke, and so on. And the pedigree of 

 each of these bulls would be given the same 

 way. Hence in many pedigrees the early cows 

 are merely represented by dashes; even now in 

 England it is far from uncommon to give the 

 names of the top cows for a few generations 

 and to represent the more remote ancestresses, 

 though their names are perfectly well known, 

 by dashes. The sire was the important factor; 

 to him alone was the number given which 

 made accuracy of reference certain. The sires 

 were regarded as the fountains of all the blood, 

 and it was of no consequence in most cases 

 what the foundation cow might be. The names 

 of the dams were inserted in the recorded ped- 



15 



