DOMESTICATED BRITISH CATTLE 99 
Galloways not only in colour and their inferior size, 
but likewise in their thinner hides and soft satiny 
coats ; and since the same characters recur in the 
polled cattle of Hungary and central Russia, it has 
been suggested that the latter form the parent stock. 
Formerly the Suffolk strain was generally of a 
mouse-dun colour, but, later on, this was changed to 
reddish brown, or brown and white. The Norfolk 
strain, on the contrary, appears to have been always 
red, with a white or mottled face, and is stated to 
have been originally horned — the latter feature, if 
authentic, militating against their derivation from a 
Continental polled breed. In the modern breed deep 
red, with or without some white on the under-parts 
and a white tail-tuft, is the favourite colour; but 
many animals are of a lighter red. In size red 
polls are medium. They may be regarded as " all- 
round " cattle, being equally good for the dairy and 
for the butcher. 
The fourth and last breed of completely hornless 
cattle native to the British Islands is the polled 
Irish, which, although but little known and appreci- 
ated in England, appears to be of great antiquity. 
Their general colour is light brownish, on which 
account they may very probably be near relatives of 
the polled Suffolk — which were formerly known as 
Suffolk duns — although they are considerably the 
superior of the latter in the matter of size, equalling 
in this respect the larger strain of shorthorns. It 
has, however, been suggested that they may be the 
result of a cross between indigenous Irish and Dutch 
cattle. In Low's time the characteristics of the breed 
were being rapidly destroyed by crossing with short- 
horns. 
