34 EAELY HISTORY OF ABERDEEN OR ANGUS CATTLE. 



found it stated whether they were polled or horned. We 

 however possess evidence which proves not only that very 

 early in the present century a polled variety of cattle pre- 

 vailed over the lower parts of Buchan, but also that, at 

 different places in the county of Aberdeen, hornless cattle 

 had been bred, even during the eighteenth century, and 

 that too with some degree of care and skill. It cannot be 

 doubted that the polled breed, which is well known to have 

 been the prevailing breed in Buchan about the opening of 

 the present century, was the direct continuation of those 

 famous old Buchan cattle which are spoken of as a valu- 

 able " native " race in early works; and in view of the fact 

 that the absence of horns was a dominant characteristic 

 seventy or eighty years ago, we can hardly be wrong in 

 concluding that, far back into the eighteenth century, if 

 not indeed much earlier, there had been polled cattle in 

 Buchan. 



Dr Skene Keith, in his ' Agricultural Survey of Aber- 

 deenshire,' published in 1811, states that this county 

 then raised " a greater number and value of black cattle 

 than perhaps any other in Scotland." He dwells at some 

 length upon the circumstances connected with the earlier 

 attempts to improve the native cattle of Aberdeenshire, 

 and presents a table giving " a general view of the different 

 breeds of black cattle in the county of Aberdeen," at the 

 time he wrote. In this table four varieties are enumer- 

 ated, as follows : (1.) Largest English or foreign breed ; 

 (2.) Largest Scotch or Tifeshire, mixed with native ; (3.) 

 Native and unmixed lowland or Aberdeenshire ; and (4.) 

 Native and unmixed or Highland breed. But while he 

 thus classifies the different varieties, and also gives much 

 interesting information as to their respective working, fat- 

 tening, grazing, and milking properties, he produces a most 

 imperfect representation of their general appearance. He 

 tells us nothing either as to their form or colour (the term 

 " black cattle," as already stated, was at one time applied 



