Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/60

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48
EVOLUTION OF BRITISH CATTLE

centre of the back, the carcase large, the belly heavy, the back-bone ridged, the chine thin and hollow, the loin narrow, the udder square, large, loose, and creased when empty, the milk veins remarkably large and rising in knotted puffs; and this so general, that I scarcely ever saw a famous milker that did not possess this point, a general habit of leanness, hip bones high and ill covered, and scarcely any part of the carcase so formed and covered as to please an eye that is accustomed to fat beasts of the finer breeds."[1]

The colour of the Suffolk cattle may be inferred from a communication of Sir Thomas Beevor's, published in the Bath Society's " Letters and Papers:" "The cows you saw were bred from the polled or horn-less Suffolk dun-coloured cows (than which, for profit, though not for beauty, I think, with the most intelligent Mr. Young, there is not so valuable a breed in England) by a Derbyshire black-and-white bull[2] given me by my friend. Lord Townshend. This mixture produced their uncommon colour of mouse and white, as well as that shape and make which pleased you, and is so much esteemed by the best judges of cattle; their heads and necks being small, their legs short, carcases large and deep, and loins remarkably

  1. Quoted from Youatt's "Cattle," 1834, p. 174.
  2. A horned breed.