74 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BREED. 



this form of crossing was continued further, Shorthorn col- 

 ours appeared, sometimes with scurs, but oftener with the 

 regular short horns of the male parent. I observed this 

 experiment tried in several cases, with exactly the same 

 result. With the larger polls with white underlines, the 

 horns and colour of the Shorthorn bull were earlier trans- 

 mitted to the produce, generally at the second or third 

 crosses. I therefore look upon the small polls without 

 white spots as the pure original Buchan humlie." 



Writing on similar points, Mr Alexander Lamb, farm- 

 manager to Colonel Ferguson of Pitfour, Aberdeenshire, 

 says : " As far back as I can remember that is, forty years 

 or so there were two kinds of polled cattle in Buchan. 

 Mr Hutchinson, Cairngall, near Longside, had from 12 

 to 16 cows I used to see always grazing in the same field. 

 They were not the jet black the present race of polls are. 

 They had a brownish tinge along the back, white udders, 

 often a stripe of white along the underline, clean necks 

 and heads, long bodies, rather sharp at the shoulders, 

 deep at the flank, and square in the hind-quarters as far 

 as I can remember, not unlike the cow [Pride of Aber- 

 deen 9th 3253] Mr Auld bought at the Tilly four disper- 

 sion for 270 guineas. The other type of polled cows I 

 remember was quite different from the one I have de- 

 scribed. She was jet black, ewe-necked, sharp on the 

 shoulders, rather broad on the loins, narrow behind, thin 

 in the thighs, bent in the hind legs, with knees rubbing 

 on each other when walking ; and had a very large belly. 

 Old men tell me that this kind of cow had excellent stock 

 when crossed by the first Tees water bulls that came to 

 Buchan. 



"These two types of polled cows I have described 

 were to be met with all through Buchan. They were 

 quite a contrast to each other in their movements. The 

 former had a jaunty majestic gait when walking (what 

 we call a ' swashy ' appearance). The other went amb- 



