| aboriginal cattle of Great Britain. 
| possess very considerable resemblance. 
742 
above the quarters; tail slender and neatly hair- 
ed; barrel round and roomy; the carcass through- 
out deep and well spread; ribs broad, standing 
flat and close on the outer surface, forming a 
smooth, even barrel, the hindmost large and full 
of length; round bone small, snug, and not pro- 
minent; thigh clean and regularly tapering ; legs 
upright and short; bone below the knee and 
hock small; feet of middle size; flank large; 
flesh everywhere mellow, soft, and yielding plea- 
santly to the touch, especially on the chine, the 
shoulder, and the ribs; hide mellow, supple, of 
a middle thickness, and loose on the neck and 
huckle; coat neatly haired, bright, and silky; 
colour, a middle red, with a bald face.” 
The Sussex cattle, particularly those among 
_ the wealds of East Sussex, appear equally with 
the North Devons to be direct descendants of the 
They are 
much less adapted than the Herefords and some 
other varieties of middle-horns, for the purposes 
| of the retail butcher ; yet possess excellent adap- 
tation for the purposes of the beef-shipper. They 
are a large breed, generally of a red colour, with 
no white on the face ; and they have larger horns 
| than the Herefords, plainer skins, larger bones, 
_ less symmetry, and fewer points of excellence in 
habit or goodness of flesh. Their horns project 
and then turn up, and are thin, long, and taper- 
ing; and though quite distinct in form and char- 
acter from those of the long-horned breeds, yet 
Their 
eye is large and prominent; their neck is coarser 
than that of the North Devons, and both longer 
and thinner than that of either the short-horns 
or the long-horns; and their shoulder has no 
projecting point as seen from behind, but is the 
centre of a disproportionately large development 
of a secondary quality of flesh. 
The prevailing cattle of Cornwall, Devonshire, 
Somersetshire, most of Gloucestershire, and part 
of Kent are middle-horn varieties, either closely 
allied to the North Devons, the Herefords, or the 
Sussexes, or produced from a crossing of some two 
of these with each other, or of one of them with 
the middle-horns of Wales.—The Welsh cattle 
have the same kind of claim as the North Devons 
and the Sussexes to be considered direct descend- 
ants of the aboriginal British cattle; and when 
examined from county to county, as they exist in 
the interior of the principality, they are seen to 
be a group of varieties, considerably different 
from one another in points and character, and 
possessed, in some instances, of considerable val- 
ue; but when observed only in the specimens 
which are driven into England, and sold fat at 
Smithfield, or lean at the markets of Rumford 
and Epping-Forest, they appear to be of nearly 
uniform variety, and all of very inferior charac- 
ter. English graziers and feeders who can obtain 
Scottish West Highland cattle, never think of 
purchasing cattle from Wales. “The Welsh cat- 
tle,” observes Mr. Dickson, “resemble the small- 
CATTLE. 
est and coarsest sorts of our Fife and Aberdeen- 
shire runts, having thick horns, thick, coarse, 
plain hides, and narrow backs; and, in my opin- 
ion, they are a very inferior breed of cattle.”— 
The native Scotch cattle, with the exception of 
the polled varieties formerly noticed, are all mid- 
dle-horned, and rank, in origin and general char- 
acter, with the North Devons and the Sussexes ; 
but whether viewed at large on their native 
pastures, or in specimens as driven into England, 
they are classifiable into a number of groups, so 
very distinct from one another as to be usually 
regarded as different breeds. The most remark- 
able or important of these groups are the Shet- 
landers, the cattle of Orkney and Caithness, the 
North Highlanders, the middle-horns of Aber- 
deenshire, the middle-horns of Fifeshire, the West 
Highlanders, and the cattle of Ayrshire. 
The Shetlanders, though easily capable of im- 
proved growth on good pastures, are naturally 
the smallest cattle in the Three Kingdoms ; yet, 
in the quality of their beef, the fineness of its 
grain, the delicacy of its flavour, and the prime 
intermixture of its fat with its lean, they are | 
totally unsurpassed and even unequalled. Their 
form, as tested by the established rules, is defec- | 
tive in symmetry; the line of the back is rather 
hollow ; the ribs are pretty round; the tail 
head droops; and the forequarters and the belly 
are comparatively too large. This form indicates 
starvation, and may have been accidentally pro- 
duced by severity of climate and paucity of food ; 
and, under more favourable circumstances, espe- 
cially with the aid of crossing, it might easily be 
improyed. The horn is sharp, the eye full, the 
muscle fine, the hair soft and sleek, and the 
touch excellent; and these points combine with 
others to indicate great superiority of constitu- 
tion and much tendency to fatten. The colour 
is uniformly black, light red, or black and white. | 
The weight of the forequarters is usually from | 
16 to 20 stones, and when extra fat, from 25 to 
30 stones; yet, in some instances of full fatness, 
it is not more than 14 or 15 stones. 
in every part, of the finest quality, and as small- 
grained as mutton. The milk of the cow is rather | 
small in quantity, but very rich in quality. 
The cattle of Orkney are much larger than 
those of Shetland, but have far less symmetry of 
form, and a much coarser quality of beef. Their | 
back is narrow, and curves above the straight 
line ; their ribs are flat; their hind quarters are 
thin ; all their bones are coarse, and those of the 
trunk are prominent; their head droops; and | 
their horns are short and blunt. ‘Their poor 
coat and their bad shape, indicate them to be | 
slow feeders, and incapable of acquiring an early | 
maturity. —The Caithness cattle have narrow © 
backs, flat ribs, narrow chests, and large bellies ; _ 
and, in general, are similar to those of Orkney. | 
A large proportion of both varieties are trained 
to work or kept for breeding till about seven or 
eight years of age; and are then sold in a lean 
The beef is, | 
ic Jee ae. 
