DOMESTICATED BRITISH CATTLE 93 
maturity earlier than any other British cattle — a 
remarkable feature in such a primitive breed. They 
are, like Norwegian cattle, good milkers, and they 
yield beef unsurpassed by that of any of the main- 
land breeds. Orkney cattle, as a rule, are less pure- 
bred than those of the Shetlands, owing to having 
been crossed with bulls imported from Caithness. 
Formerly these cattle were probably, for the most 
part at any rate, hornless.^ 
The Highland, or properly West Highland, cattle 
form an unmistakable and picturesque breed rendered 
familiar in England during the Victorian period by 
the paintings of Sir Edwin Landseer. Small in size, 
these cattle are rough-coated animals, especially in 
winter, with relatively long horns, which frequently 
turn upwards at the tips in a more or less marked 
degree, and short, stout limbs. The dewlap is well 
developed, and there is a rudimentary mane on the 
neck. The colour ranges from yellow dun, red, black, 
and brindle to a mixture of red and black, with a 
predominance of the former ; but whole-coloured 
animals are much preferred to those with broken- 
coloured coats. The hair may be as much as six 
inches in length. In light-coloured animals the 
horns are whitish straw-colour, but in darker indi- 
viduals they have the tips black. The colour of the 
muzzle varies, in accordance with that of the coat, 
from buff or flesh-colour to black. Bulls reach 
a weight of about 1000 lb. The breed was 
originally black, and in Youatt's well-known work 
on cattle Mr. Malcolm M'Neill, of Islay, stated that 
"the Highland bull should be black, the head not 
^ See Wilson, Scientific Proceedings R, Dublin Soc, ser. ii. vol. 
xii. p. 160, 1909. 
