THE WEST HIGHLAND BREED. 303 



curling ; the neck should be strong and muscular ; the fore- 

 head rather broad ; and the nose, from the eyes to the muzzle, 

 somewhat short ; a dewlap should exist as a character of 

 the breed ; the eyes should be prominent and clear ; the 

 horns should be of good length, without approaching to 

 coarseness, spreading, and tipped with black. 



Now, in the genuine West Highlanders, we shall find such 

 a combination of these characters, as to shew them to be well 

 fitted to the country in which they are reared. Their limbs 

 are short, though muscular, their chests wide and deep, their 

 ribs well arched, and their backs as straight as in any other 

 breed. The neck, indeed, and dewlap, seem somewhat coarse 

 in the bull, but these are characters indicative of their moun- 

 tain state ; and almost all their other points are what breeders 

 would term good. They are of various colours. A disposi- 

 tion exists in the breeders of the Highlands to cultivate the 

 black colour, as conceiving it to be more indicative of hardi- 

 ness; and hence the greater number of the cattle of the High- 

 lands are black. But the brown colour, or the mixed black 

 and brown, or the mouse-dun, are yet more generally indica- 

 tive of a disposition to fatten. The brown is attended with 

 that orange tone of the skin which is valued in other breeds, 

 as the Pembroke and the Devon ; and there is a constant ten- 

 dency in the best bred cattle of the Highlands to assume it. 

 The breeders, therefore, should look to the essential charac- 

 ters of form, without limiting themselves to a black colour 

 of the hair, which is a property altogether secondary. 



The Cows of this breed, like those of many alpine districts, 

 are deficient in the power of yielding milk. The milk they 

 give is rich in cream, but it is in small quantity ; and they 

 very quickly tend to run dry. They are usually allowed to 

 suckle their own young, and often manifest the wildness of 

 their race, by refusing to yield milk, and quickly running 

 dry, unless their young be suffered to suck them. 



Attempts have" been sometimes made to cross this breed 

 with the cattle of the lower country, with the Ayrshire, and 



