CHARACTER OF THE HERD. 315 



by a red-polled Norfolk bull — the result of an accidental 

 alliance : her form was very different to that of the rest, 

 and her calves were more coloured ; but from the others 

 (even by the present sire) the calves were pure white 

 with red markings ; one or two having also black noses, 

 with brownish -red hair adjoining. I saw no white 

 animal which had horns, though two or three coloured 

 ones had. There were in front of the Hall several year- 

 ling and two-year-old steers grazing. These had, to a 

 noticeable extent, long hair on the frontlet, on the ridge 

 of the neck, and on the fore quarters ; all the herd had 

 abundance of hair, and I should quite believe that old 

 bulls would show a mane. The steers were big of their 

 age, and it was said that they fattened well, weighed 

 well, and contented the butcher ; but there was not 

 here, any more than at Blickling, any indication of the 

 extraordinary size which is said to have once belonged 

 to this breed. Their tails are invariably white, their 

 hoofs light-coloured, and their fetlocks white ; their" 

 skins had more substance, combined with suppleness, 

 than any of the polled Norfolks or Suffolks possess. 

 The cows are as tame as ordinary cattle, breed regularly, 

 and seem quite up to the average as milkers ; they are 

 striking-looking when seen in the pasture in a group, or 

 when examined separately. It is plain that, in spite of 

 loose breeding, there is a perpetual struggle at Wood- 

 bastwick to reproduce the original type ; and this proves 

 how much more firmly fixed is this in the blood than is 

 that of any of the recently introduced crosses. When 

 two animals, bred in the herd, are coupled together, the 

 produce is white polled, with red ears and muzzles. It 

 would seem, therefore, to be possible to bring out, by 

 careful matching, even in the whole herd, the character 



