io8 THE OX AND ITS KINDRED 
aforesaid white streak along the middle line of the 
back. The skin was dark and thick, with an 
abundant'coat of hair. The long horns, from which 
the breed takes its name, inclined outwards and 
downwards, although on the eastern limits of the 
range of the breed they are stated to have shown 
a tendency to an upward direction. The cows 
yielded good, although not abundant, milk ; and 
the oxen, though sluggish in their movements, were 
strong to labour." These old longhorns were also 
of a hardy disposition, but had the disadvantage 
that they were late in reaching maturity, this being 
doubtless one of the reasons why the breed fell into 
disfavour. 
A profound difference w^as effected in the shape 
of the horns by what is known as the Gisburne 
cross, which took place in 1859.^ As the result of 
this, the horns assumed a much more downwardly- 
directed and curved shape, their tips inclining 
inwards to such an extent as in some cases to 
nearly meet a few inches below the eyes. A head 
and a skull of these modern longhorns arc exhibited 
in the Natural History branch of the British Museum, 
the latter of which shows the convexity of the upper 
border of the forehead characteristic of the breed, 
this and the downward direction of the horns 
causing the skull to approximate to that of a buffalo. 
Some years ago longhorn cattle, as already men- 
tioned, were almost an expiring breed, but recently 
attempts have been made to revive it. One of the 
most notable modern herds is that of Mr. W. Hanson 
^ Vide Oldham, The Zoologist^ vol. xv., March 1891 ; and Hedger 
Wallace, Ti-ans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgoiv, ser. ii. vol. v. p. 240, 
1899. 
