102 THE OX AND THE DAIKY. 



centage died of starvation, and diseases attendant upon innu- 

 tritious fare. The cows, it is true, were housed during the 

 winter ; often, indeed, they shared the rude shealing of the 

 peasant; but this bettered their condition very little, for 

 suffering and privation were the lot of the family. 



In well-managed establishments at the present time, the 

 cattle are treated upon principle. The calves, all of which are 

 reared, are generally produced in February, March, and April. 

 Three times a day they are allowed to draw milk from the 

 udders of their dams, which are afterwards emptied by the 

 dairy-maid. When at the age of three or four months, the 

 calves are sent only twice a day to their dams in the meadows, 

 and are weaned in September, or early in October. During 

 the winter they are housed, and fed on hay and turnips, as are 

 also the breeding cows ; the rest are kept in the pastures, and 

 when these become bare, are supplied with coarse hay, and 

 sometimes with turnips or potatoes. 



In Argyleshire the kyloes are larger than in the Hebrides, 

 and many of them are models of beauty pictures of a noble 

 semi-wild race ; descendants of the old mountain breed, which 

 once roamed the wilds of Caledonia, and came " crushing 

 the forest" to meet the fierce hunter. 



Besides these kyloes, there are other breeds in Argyleshire ; 

 the Ayrshire cow is principally used for the dairy. 



In the eastern counties of the Highlands, as Aberdeenshire, 

 Forfarshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire, &c., various breeds of 

 kyloes, more or less improved, prevail. Aberdeenshire is a 

 great grazing land, and in this and the adjacent counties 

 there are many spirited and successful breeders. Great num- 

 bers of cattle from this part of Scotland are purchased by the 

 English graziers for the London market. In. the Shetland 

 Islands, the Orkneys, and the northern counties of Scotland, 

 a small, shaggy breed of cattle, evidently of the same stock as 

 the kyloes of the western isles, is commonly to be seen. 

 Stunted in growth by hard fare on the bleak moorlands, still 

 these dwarfish cattle have much to recommend them. They 

 are fitted for their high northern locality ; their deep, rough 

 curly coat defends them against the severities of the winter ; 

 they live where most other cattle would starve ; in some 

 favoured spots they even fatten ; and if transported to some 

 tolerable pasturage, become ripe for the butcher with incre- 

 dible rapidity. But they do not thrive if taken too far south ; 

 they become enervated ; they pine in the midst of plenty, 



