FOUR-HORNED SHEEP 
OF late years, at any rate, the attention of British breeders 
of sheep and cattle has been directed to the obliteration 
rather than to the development of horns; these weapons of 
offence and defence being not only quite unnecessary to 
domesticated animals which are never exposed to the attacks 
of beasts of prey, but often being the cause of serious 
damage, either from the animals fighting when in the open, 
or goring one another when crowded together during transit 
by rail. Among cattle the estimation in which “ polled ” 
breeds are held at the present day, and the practical dis- 
appearance of the old longhorns, are excellent examples of 
this fashion ; while among sheep, if we except the mountain 
and Dorset breeds, the majority of those bred in this country 
are hornless. 
If, however, fashion and custom had set in the opposite 
direction, there is little doubt that some extraordinary 
developments in the form, size, or number of horns might 
have been witnessed in both these groups of animals. 
Length of horn was indeed a feature in the old-fashioned 
breed of British long-horned cattle, and the massiveness and 
size of the horns of the humped cattle of Gallaland and 
Abyssinia, as well as the length frequently attained by the 
same appendages in the trek-oxen of Cape Colony, bear 
testimony to the facility with which developments in this 
direction can be encouraged. 
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