THE BE A UTY OF CATTLE 73 



and chewing the cud placidly, or licking their own 

 coats or those of their neighbours attentions to toilet 

 which are a certain sign of contentment in cattle. The 

 least tranquil was the splendid steer which had won the 

 highest honours of the show. Size, shape, and colour 

 would have qualified it for a place among the Oxen of 

 the Sun. Almost as tall as an Indian bison, with a 

 back as straight and level as a table, it had the char- 

 acteristic colour and proportions of the finest domestic 

 breed. The blue-roan mottling of its wavy coat 

 gradually increased in closeness, until on its neck and 

 head nothing but the dark tint, like ' blued ' steel, pre- 

 vailed. Its eyes were large and black, its eyelashes 

 long and curling, its muzzle fine and sensitive. But 

 its whole aspect was melancholy, as it waved its head 

 wearily from side to side. As we watched it, it lay 

 down, for the first time since entering the show, and 

 before long was no doubt reconciled to its surroundings. 

 This steer weighed i ton i cwt,, and was barely three 

 and a half years old. But the weariness of the champion 

 was by no means shared by its fellows. A lovely 

 steer from Norwich, next door, was dipping its nose 

 alternately into its water-pail and supper-tray ; and a 

 beautiful young blue-gray bullock, from Lord Elles- 

 mere's park near Newmarket, was angrily protesting at 

 being kept waiting while his neighbours were fed. His 

 groom, a bright Suffolk lad who had ' known him ever 



