408 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



somewhat uncared for, and many of the cows so aged as to be 

 past breeding, and he has, therefore, during that interval of time, 

 been keeping every good heifer calf, without weeding out too 

 stringently on account of irregular markings. About 1876 or 1877 

 a young bull was exchanged with the Marchioness of Lothian for 

 one from Blickling. This cross succeeded fairly well, a pecu- 

 liarity in this strain being that many are born with the ears 

 square-tipped, as if the animals had been marked by cropping. 

 About the year 1879 a young bull was exchanged with Mr, A. 

 Cator, of Woodbastwick. This bull was &roi<;n-pointed, but threw 

 calves with red ears and muzzles, which were the first so marked 

 known to have occurred at Somerford. Of the twenty-three cows 

 and heifers, eleven have either very little black fleckings about the 

 body or even none at all ; while half»a dozen have a good deal of 

 black in thickly-grouped fleckings, spots, and small patches ; two 

 or three have probably fully one-third of the entire hide black. 

 One cow, about ten years old, may be described as a blue-roan, 

 black and white hairs being placed almost alternately over the 

 greater portion of her body, which give her a blue-grey coloration. 

 The fronts of her fore legs below the knees are black, and all the 

 outside of her ears, instead of as usual from one-third to a half 

 at the distal end. This cow was (according to Mr. Hill) giving 

 twenty-four quarts of milk per day. One cow is red-pointed, and 

 slightly flecked on the neck with the same colour. The black on 

 the nose in the raajorit}^ extends evenly round the whole muzzle, 

 including the under jaw, but some have merely the naked part of 

 the nose black, and in one or two even this is rusty coloured and 

 not perfectly black. All, with the exception of the red-pointed 

 cow, have a narrow rim of black round the eyes. The animals 

 with the least black about them appear to have the finest bone 

 and smallest heads. This may be following the old strain, while 

 the others perhaps more nearly follow the cross-strains. The red- 

 pointed cow and one of the pure white ones have small knobs or 

 excrescences on either side of the frontal bone, like budding 

 horns, but they do not protrude through the skin. The bulls 

 (though both immature) are ver}^ strongly made, very broad across 

 the thighs, short on the legs, and with remarkably broad, thick-set 

 heads. Both are plentifully flecked with black, and in the younger 

 of the two the fleckings extend to the lower part of his face, while 

 the black on his muzzle is broader than in probably any other 



