136 Saddle and Sirloin. 



in company, and often scour a good deal in warm 

 weather. The bulls are of a more tawny shade than 

 the cows, as they fling the dirt very much over their 

 shoulders when they kneel to challenge. Both sexes 

 have black nostrils, horns tipped with black, and a 

 little red within the ears ; and in their general look 

 they partake of the Charolais and Highlander com- 

 bined. Their offal is rather coarse, and they have 

 sometimes a tendency to be high on the tail, as well 

 as upright on the shoulder. Like Highland herds 

 going along a road, they are subject to panics, and two 

 gallops in the course of a week one season, owing per- 

 haps to the rustling of deer near them, cost nearly 

 every cow her calf. The calves are dropped in the 

 fern, but they are sad little Tartars ; and if they have 

 been housed, it takes nearly two months to take off 

 the tame smell. 



A steer and cow were once tamed in a fashion ; 

 but their principal affections centred on hay and 

 bean-meal, while turnips had no charm for them. In 

 winter they follow the hay-cart like any other cattle, 

 and sometimes they have been shot out of it. Their 

 sense of smell is exceedingly acute, and a cow has 

 been seen to run a man's foot like a sleuth-hound, 

 when he had run for his life to a tree. While Sir 

 Edwin Landseer was taking sketches for his cele- 

 brated pictures, the herd went into action, and he was 

 glad to fly to the forest as they passed by. A study 

 of a bull by Sir Edwin, along with several butterflies 

 and birds on a screen, are among the choicest art 

 treasures at the Castle, where he spends many a sum- 

 mer day, and so is a head of Sir Rowland Errington, 

 once Master of the Quorn, which is merely dashed off 

 on a door panel. 



But we must turn from these "tameless beef" 

 studies to the more prosaic sheep of the district — 

 those Barmshires or Border Leicesters, which are pecu- 

 liar to the Border counties of Roxburgh, Berwick 



