356 
Polled Aberdeen and Angus Cattle. 
a hundred years ago — the Lothian and Berwickshire farmers 
gave up cattle-rearing and took to the raising of corn, good 
southern work-oxen became so scarce and high-priced, that the 
more enterprising agriculturists in Aberdeenshire were induced 
to rear their own oxen. They introduced bulls and cows of 
various breeds from various parts of the south ; even some 
English and some Dutch animals having been imported. We 
are told, however, by Pr. Keith, in his admirable ' Agricultural 
Survey of Aberdeenshire,' published in Ibll, that these earlier 
importations had but " a partial effect," and that satisfactory 
success was achieved only when the famous Fifeshire or Falk- 
land breed had been resorted to. Dr. Keith says that " the 
Falkland breed, which was at this time one of the best in Scot- 
land, had originally been raised from some English cows which 
that sagacious prince, Henry VII., had, 300 years ago, sent in a 
present to his eldest daughter, the Queen of Scotland, who had 
been married to King James IV." Falkland Palace in Fife- 
shire, having then been a royal residence, the breed which 
sprang from Princess Margaret's "dowry" was known as the 
Falkland or Fife breed. Of this breed, which was described as 
large and handsome, and mostly black and horned, a great many 
bulls were introduced into Aberdeenshire and crossed with the 
native polled and horned cows. This union was remarkably 
successful, the large handsome Fife bulls and the thick low-set 
native cows having produced a class of cattle combining the size 
and handsome shapes of the former with the excellent beef- 
producing properties of the latter. The great value of these 
crosses for the production of beef soon became known. They 
found their wav into the beef-markets of England and the south 
of Scotland, ultimately becoming celebrated throughout the 
country. They were designated the black horned cattle of 
Aberdeenshire ; and perhaps the fact that for a time their fame 
outshone that of all the other races in the county is mainly 
accountable for the erroneous impression entertained by some 
that they (the black horned cattle) were the real and only 
native breed of cattle in Aberdeenshire. Even at the present 
day some seem to regard these black horned crosses as the 
ancestors of the Buchan Humlies. The reverse, however, is 
more nearly true. Instead of the black horned cattle having 
been the progenitors of Buchan Humlies, the Buchan Humlies 
in reality were, in conjunction with other breeds, the progenitors 
of the famous black horned breed. 
From the earliest descriptions existing, it would seem that 
there were hardly any distinguishing features between the Angus 
Doddies and Buchan Humlies. They were small in size, short 
in the legs, short but thick in body, fine in the bone, and as a 
