406 THE BEEED IN THE SHOW-TAED. 



the -writer, ' Mind you, I could not say anything although 

 the judgment went against me there.' It was pretty 

 much a toss up, but victory eventually went to Tillyfour, 

 and without any complaints on the other side. 



" In the two-year-old heifer class, however, a very 

 decided mistake was made in the awards. A heifer, 

 owned and bred by Mr Eeid, Baads, was most unex- 

 pectedly placed first. She had a calf at foot, but except 

 that she had begun to breed very early, she had no other 

 claim to the position over the excellent heifers shown 

 against her by the Earl of Fife and the Marquis of 

 Huntly. Mr M'Combie's SybQ 2nd 3526, daughter of 

 the first-piize cow, was considered by many to have been 

 safe for the first premium in the yearling class, but the 

 judges, or at least a majority of them, preferred the rather 

 leaner heifer from Drumin named Sunshine 2nd 3333. 

 By future development as a heifer Sunshine- 2nd justified 

 the choice, although Sybil 2nd proved the more meri- 

 torious cow. 



"The year 1878 will remain memorable in the historj' 

 of polled cattle. In that year the late Mr M'Combie of 

 Tillyfour achieved for himself a crowning victory, and 

 for the poUs a great triumph, by gaining the cliampion 

 prize at the Paris International Exhibition for the group 

 of cattle of any variety, and also tbe champion prize for 

 the best beef-producing group, with four females and a 

 bull bred at Tillyfour. Sir George Macpherson Grant, 

 Bart., of Ballindalloch, beat Mr M'Combie in some of the 

 classes at Paris, and ran him hard in the group contest, 

 so that the polled breed interest had, so to speak, on 

 that important representative occasion, more than one 

 string to its bow. Mr M'Combie's remarkable feat at Paris 

 did more, perhaps, than any other single showyard perform- 

 ance to bring the Xorth of Scotland polls into national 

 repute. The quarantine restrictions on the return of 

 animals from France interfered considerably with the 



