64 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 



wildness of the Celtic Shorthorn, adults of which were seldom 

 captured by our prehistoric predecessors, with the mildness 

 of Ayrshires and Galloways ? This loss in character may be 

 connected with the increased weight of body and general 

 lassitude of mind bred by a sheltered existence, and these 

 have been fostered by the gradual reduction of the free-way 

 of -the herds until their exercise is confined to the narrow 

 limits of an enclosed field. The breed of the mountains 

 the Highlanders still retains more than any other the spirit 

 of the wild. 



A curious development, to which much attention has been 

 paid since the improvement of cattle became a science, is that 

 of early fattening, and the extraordinary tendency of some 

 breeds to gain flesh rapidly and at an early age, speaks 

 wonderfully of the power of human selection. Of all breeds 

 the Shorthorn seems most to have developed the tendency 

 to early maturity. The official weights of the prize-winners 

 at the National Hereford Shorthorn Show at Kansas in 1900 

 afford an excellent illustration of this trait. The average of 

 eight prize-winners is given in each case. While heifers 

 under six months old averaged 571 pounds, the weight at 

 a year was 810 pounds, at two years 1270 pounds, and cows 

 at three years or over weighed 1 806 pounds. At six months, 

 a bull averaged 588, at a year 966, at two years 1467, while 

 at three years or over the weight averaged 2298 pounds. 

 It is a striking fact, emphasizing the significance of artificial 

 improvement, that the breed which comes most slowly to 

 maturity for the market is that which remains nearest in 

 type to the original stock the West Highland for in reach- 

 ing its maximum of weight the Kyloe lags about a year 

 behind most of the other British breeds. 



In a last subtle respect domestication has had an as- 

 tonishing effect in the development of the milk-supply of 

 cows. So utterly has nature been circumvented in this 

 respect that records, gathered in 1905 by the Fenwick 

 Society from 18 dairies in the south of Scotland, comprising 

 443 cows, show that the lactation period ranged from thirty- f 

 eight to nearly forty -six weeks, and that the annual yield 

 per cow averaged 875 gallons of milk. 



