THE FALKLAND BREED. 329 



Tay from the breeding county of Forfar, from which numbers 

 of cattle have been introduced ; and a general favour having 

 existed in Fifeshire for hornless cattle, the Angus Breed has 

 been largely mixed in blood with the native stock. The do- 

 mestic dairy, too, having been extensively cultivated by the 

 numerous smaller possessors of the district, Cows have been 

 sought for possessed of the properties of good milchers, without 

 relation to the breed, and thus Calves of a very mixed lineage 

 have been continually reared, and mingled with the other 

 varieties. Further, although the county of Fife was early 

 noted in the history of Scotland for its populousness, and the 

 number of its towns, its rural population has not, until lately, 

 been very forward to introduce modern improvements. After 

 the glorious peace of 1763, when every branch of industry in 

 Scotland received a new impulse, Fife seemed rather to lan- 

 guish. Its fisheries decayed, in consequence of the extension 

 of the same branch of industry elsewhere ; its rich mines 

 were not yet sufficiently called into operation, and the popu- 

 lation of its numerous towns and hamlets shewed a tendency 

 to decline, while a long period elapsed before its minutely- 

 divided farms could be so united as to favour general im- 

 provement. By the commencement of the present century, 

 however, a great change had been effected in the condition 

 of this as of other parts of North Britain ; but still the im- 

 provement of its cattle did not advance in a corresponding 

 degree, or rather they had been undergoing deterioration, 

 by a continued departure from the type of the only really 

 pure and valuable breed which the country produced. This 

 breed was termed the Falkland, from the ancient royal manor 

 of that name. 



.. The domain of Falkland, situated in the lower part of the 

 vale of Eden, had early merged into the possessions of the 

 powerful Earls of Fife, the descendants of that illustrious 

 chief who, as Macduff the Thane, has had a memorial of his 

 name bequeathed to every age, by the creative genius of 

 poetry. In the reign of James I., all the possessions of this 



