THE OX AND THE DAIBY. 101 



their numbers diminish by sales, or by the respective lots 

 reaching the parties to whom they were consigned ; but those 

 destined directly for the midland or southern counties, where 

 the pasture-lands of some large landed proprietor await their 

 reception, are months upon the road, unless indeed, as is often 

 the case, they are sent by sea to some convenient port, and 

 there landed. 



In a well-bred kyloe, the following characters are con- 

 spicuous : The head is small and short, with a fine and 

 somewhat up-turned muzzle ; the forehead is broad ; the 

 horns wide apart at their base, tapering, and of a waxen 

 yellow ; the neck is fine at its junction with the head, arched 

 above, and abruptly descending to the breast, which is broad, 

 full, and very prominent ; the shoulders are deep and broad, 

 and the chine is well filled, so as to leave no depression behind 

 them ; the limbs are short and muscular, with moderate bone ; 

 the back is straight and broad ; the ribs boldly arched, and 

 brought well up to the hips ; the chest deep and voluminous ; 

 the tail high set, arid largely tufted at the tip ; the coat of hair 

 thick and black : such is the bull. The ox differs in propor- 

 tion. The cow is far more slightly built, and her general con- 

 tour is more elongated. Although, as we have said, black is 

 the ordinary or standard colour of the kyloe, many are of a 

 dark reddish brown, and some of a pale or whitish dun. 



Some little difference in size, as might be expected, exists 

 among the kyloes of different localities. Those of the Isle of 

 Skye, and of Lewis and Uist, are rather smaller than those of 

 Islay, Jura, Argyleshire, Lochaber, or Inverness. 



Multitudinous as are the cattle bred and reared in the 

 Hebrides, few are fattened there, nor is much attention paid 

 to the dairy : few farmers keeping more milch cows than will 

 serve the wants of the family in milk, butter, and cheese. 



The kyloe cow does not yield much milk, but that is of 

 extraordinary richness. In North Uist and Tiree, however, 

 where the herbage is generally good, both cheese and butter 

 are made for the markets, each cow being estimated to yield 

 twenty-two or twenty-four pounds of the latter, or from eighty 

 to ninety pounds of the former, during the summer. 



Great attention is paid to the rearing of calves ; and, far 

 more than under the old regime, to the treatment of the 

 cattle, which formerly had little or no provision made for 

 them during the winter, and were ill-fed even during the 

 summer; the consequence of which was, that a large per 



