THE JERSEY, ALDERiXEY AND GUERNSEY COW, 93 



Cows. It is a clear, condensed, practical resume of 

 Guenon's rules, with valuable additions. 



MIRRORS OF cows. 



There is no point in judging a cow so little understood 

 as the mirror or escutcheon. The conclusion of almost 

 every one is, that her mirror is good if there be a broad 

 band of uprunning hair from the udder to the vulva and 

 around it — see fig. 17. These cows with the broad 

 vertical mirror are nearly always parallel cows ; that is, 

 with bodies long but not large, and with the under line 

 parallel with the back. Their thighs are thin, and the 

 thigh mirror shows on the inside of the thigh rather 

 than on its rear. 



Next comes the wedg-e-shaped cow, with the body 

 shorter, but very W. deepen the flank, and ver^ 

 capacious. This form does not usually exhibit the 

 broad vertical mirror, running up to the vulva, but with 

 a broader thigh may exhibit a thigh mirror, which is 

 preferable to the other, thus — see fig. 1 8. 



To those not familiar with the meaning of mirror or 

 escutcheon, it may be well to say, that the uprunning 

 hair in the rear of a cow, on and between the thighs, 

 represents the mirror. This uprunning can be easily 

 seen or felt, being in marked contrast with the down- 

 running or body hair ; the mirror terminates at the out- 

 side of the thigh in a curl or cowlick. In some cases 

 there is another curl, about three inches below the 

 upper one. 



