DESCRIPTION OF POLLS. 81 



neck should pass neatly and evenly into the body, with 

 full neck-vein. The shoulder-blades should lie well back- 

 wards, fitting neatly into the body, and not lying awkwardly 

 outside it : they should show no undue prominence on the 

 shoulder-top, on the points, or at the elbow. An upright 

 shoulder in cattle is generally accompanied by a light 

 waist — an important, and in all breeds a much too 

 common, defect. The chest should be wide and deep, so 

 as to give plenty of room for lung-development. The 

 bosom should stand well forward between the fore-legs, 

 and underneath should be well covered with flesh and 

 fat. The crops should be full and level, with no falling 

 off behind them ; the ribs well sprung, springing out 

 barrel-like, and neatly joined to the crops and loins ; the 

 back level and broad ; the loins broad and strong ; the 

 hook-bones not too wide — narrower than in an average 

 Shorthorn ; the quarters long, even, and rounded, with no 

 hoUow from the hooks to the tail ; the tail should come 

 neatly out of the body, not too far up the back, and not 

 higher at the root than the line of the back. A high tail- 

 head was to some extent characteristic of the ancient 

 polled breed, but it is one of the defects that are being 

 gradually removed by the more scientific systems of 

 breeding now pursued. 



Some good polled cattle, too, have been found to show a 

 development of soft worthless flesh and fat on the rounds 

 behind ; but that defect, which is disliked very much, is 

 also almost obliterated. The tail should hang straight 

 down, close to the body all the way till it comes near to 

 the level of the flank. On both sides of the taO the quar- 

 ters should turn away in a rounded manner, swelling out 

 downwards, and ultimately passing into thick deep thighs. 

 The twist should be full, and the hind-legs set well apart, 

 and not detached from the body until the level of the 

 flank is reached. The flank should be full and soft, so that 

 a good handful may be got out of it. The bottom line 



