1098 Hornless Ruminants. . [Dec. 
stock, they were equal to the Ayrshire in quantity, while the 
quality was superior.” 
“ Highland Humties.’—In Mr. McCombie’s early days “ there 
was a race-starved vermin which were known by the name of 
‘Highland Humlies, which I consider the worst of all breeds. 
. No keep will move them much. At the top of these I must 
place those with the brown ridge along the back. They can be. 
made older, but it takes more ability than I ever had to make 
them much bigger. Keep is entirely thrown away on them.”* 
The following extract officially and accurately summarizes the 
state of the polled breeds in Scotland in 1860. It is taken from 
the “Introduction—General View of Scotland,” p. xiv. of Nel- 
son’s “ Hand-Book to Scotland,” by Rev. John M. Wilson, 
author of the “Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland”: 
“Three breeds of hornless cattle, the Galloways, the Angus 
humlies, and the Buchan, grazing the districts from which they 
take their name, together with contiguous ones, are known in 
the English shambles. A large-horned breed, called the runts, 
hata hg in Fifeshire and Aberdeenshire, serve chiefly for salted 
eef.” 
The Angus and the Buchan polls have long been amalgamated, 
as they are radically of the same race, territorially belonging to 
the same geographical Caledonian region, so distinct and separate 
from the southern and Border region. 
Curious Description of Orkney Cattle —A manuscript of date 
1529, in referring to the Orkney cattle, says .. . “ the oxen 
 yoaked with cheats and haims and breachams, which they call 
weases, albeit they have horns.” The last clause might lead one 
to suppose that the writer had only been accustomed previously 
to hornless cattle. | 
* Cattle and Cattle Breeders. 4th ed, By Wm. McCombie, of Tillyfour, M-P, 
(To be continued.) 
Ege 
