Polled Aberdeen and Angus Cattle. 
371 
frame. A compact well-rounded frame, however, has always 
been a leading characteristic of the Polled breed, and the maii> 
reason why a square Shorthorn-looking frame is objected to in 
a Polled animal is that such a form is foreign to the breed, and 
therefore apt to arouse suspicions of impurity. The admirers 
of the breed claim for it valuable natural properties not found 
to an equal extent in any other breed ; and they fear that should 
the breed lose its characteristically natural appearance, it may 
also lose its superiority in those valuable properties — " the 
genuine article should always bear its trade mark." Careful 
improvers of the breed are specially particular as to the hind- 
quarters. While they aim at developing long, level, thick, deep 
quarters, they also strive to retain the rounded appearance 
Avhich was originally one of the dominant characteristics of the 
breed. 
The head of the Polled male should not be large, but should 
be handsome and neatly set on. The muzzle should be fine ; 
the nostrils wide ; the distance from the nostrils to the eyes of 
only moderate length ; the eyes mild, large, and expressive ; the 
poll high ; the ears of fair size, lively and well covered with 
hair ; the throat clean, with no development of skin and flesh 
beneath the jaws, which should not be heavy ; the neck pretty 
long, clean, and rising from the head to the shoulder-top, and 
surmounted by a moderate " crest," which adds to the masculine 
appearance — a desirable point in a bull. The neck should pass 
neatly and evenly into the body, with full neck-vein. The 
shoulder-blades should lie well backwards, fitting neatly into the 
body, and not lying awkwardly outside it ; they should show no 
undue prominence on the shoulder-top, on the points, or at the 
elbow. An upright shoulder in cattle is generally accompanied 
by a light waist — an important and, in all breeds, a much too 
common defect. The chest should be wide and deep, so as to 
give plenty of room for lung-development. The bosom should 
stand well forward between the fore-legs, and underneath should 
be well covered with flesh and fat. The crops should be full 
and level, with no falling off behind them ; the ribs well sprung, 
springing out barrel-like, and neatly joined to the crops and 
loins ; the back level and broad ; the loins broad and strong ; 
the hook-bones not too wide — narrower than in an average 
Shorthorn ; the quarters long, even, and rounded, with no hollow 
from the hooks to the tail ; the tail should come neatly out of 
the body, not too far up the back, and not higher at the root 
than the line of the back. A high tail-head was to some extent 
characteristic of the ancient Polled breed, but it is one of the 
defects that are being gradually removed by the more scien- 
