152 Scientific Proceedings ^ Royal Dublin Society. 



hommyll appretiatum ad quadragintas solidos et octo denarios monete Scotie "' 

 — a black liummle — i.e. humble or hornless — ox, valued at 40s. %d. Scots. 



There is another gap till the middle of the eighteenth century, from 

 wliich time onwards the references to hornless cattle in the north-east of 

 Scotland occur with increasing frequency ; but as these are collected in 

 Macdonald and Sinclair's " History of Polled Aberdeen or Angus Cattle," 

 all that need be said here is that these cattle were confined originally to the 

 lands near the coast, but as time went on, and especially after the opening up 

 of the southern trade in the eighteenth century and the increased demand for 

 hornless cattle, they crept farther and farther inland. 



Youatt has several references to the colours of these North-Eastern cattle 

 during tlie time when the inland ones were passing from the horned to the 

 hornless condition, viz. : — Of the Forfarsliire horned cattle : " The prevailing 

 colour is black, but witli more admixture of other tints : some have white 

 spots on the foreliead, and white on the flanks and belly. There are more 

 brindled cattle than in Aberdeen ; some are dark red, and others of a silver 

 yellow or dun. A few are black with white hairs intermixed ; and 

 occasionally a beast is seen that is altogether white, with the exception of a 

 few black hairs about the head."* 



Of tlie Forfarshire hornless cattle : " The greater part of them are black 

 or with a few white spots. Tlie next general colour is yellow, comprehending 

 the brindled, dark red, and silver-coloured yellow."^ 



The colour of the Aberdeenshire horned cattle "is usually black, but 

 sometimes brindled."* Many were dun within the memory of living men. 



Of the " Buchan cattle," that is the cattle on the Aberdeenshire coast, 

 " the best sort used to be polled, and some of them that do not begin to have 

 the Ayrshire blood in them, are so still, and are of a dark or brown colour."* 



Macdonald and Sinclair write : " Formerly, both in Angus and 

 Aberdeen, the breed embraced a variety of colours as well as difference in 

 size. Black, witli some white spots on the underline, was the prevailing 

 colour. Some were brindled — dark-red and black stripes alternately ; others 

 were red ; others brown ; and a few what Youatt called ' silver-coloured 

 yellow.'"' 



The following statement, apparently about a century old, is made with 

 regard to the cattle in the parisli of Eathven in Banffshire : — " Dealers who 

 purchase the cattle for the south are somewhat particular with regard to 



• See "The Spalding Club's CoUectious for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Bnnff," 

 vol. iii., p. 344. 



2 " Cattle," 1834 ed., p. 114. '^ IhkL,-^.!^'!. *IHil., p. 106. ' Ihid., ■^. \Q~i. 



« " History of Polled Aberdeen or Angus Cuttle," 1882, p. 76. 



