288 EXISTING SCOTCH HERDS. 



Marquis 212, who there had second prize ; Fox Maule 305, 

 and Palmerston 374, were perhaps the crack bulls. The 

 herd at one time numbered 120 head. It is now only a 

 little more than half, close on 70. A famous old cow 

 called Duchess went to America when, I think, fifteen 

 years old. This must have been about 1850. The first 

 regular ' Herd Book' kept is dated 1840, at least this is the 

 first of which I can find any trace." 



Mr H. H. Dixon, when collecting information in 1865 

 for ' Field and Fern,' visited Portlethen and gleaned some 

 facts about the herd. He says : " We were just in time to 

 see the last of Fox Maule, by universal consent the best 

 Angus bull that has been seen in Scotland for many a long 

 year. He was by Mr Watson's Marquis 212, from Mr 

 Bowie's Matilda Fox, by Cupbearer 59, a dam which 

 never failed. Mr Martin had been there the day before, 

 and declared that he never killed a heavier beast, save one, 

 as he proved, at 13^ cwt. phis 13 imperial stones of fat. 

 It was a rare treat to see him come out, with every point 

 so beautifully fitted into each other and bevelled off, and 

 that ' neat Eoman head set on like a button ; ' but he was 

 nearly five years old, and had been sadly chary of his 

 duplicates; and therefore the second-prize two-year-old 

 bull at Stirling, the blood-like Jehu by Duke of Wellington 

 219, from Young Jean 295, by Captain of Ardovie 63, was 

 captain in his stead. The herd was commenced by Mr 

 Eobert Walker in 1826, by Brown Mouths and Nackets, 

 which were left him by his father. Porty by Colonel 

 145, from the tribe of Eosie, ' a dowry cow,' whose 

 milking sort had been in the family since 1778, crossed 

 well with both these tribes. Colonel was a Nackets bull, 

 with rather a brown back, and so crusty that he had three 

 years of penal servitude at the plough. There was no 

 Aberdeen show in Forty's day, but, although he was rather 

 small, his nice shape and peculiarly fine bone brought him 

 up first at Inverurie, and a cross with his own sister helped 



