Page:On the Ancient and Modern Races of Oxen in Ireland (IA jstor-20489834).pdf/6

69 brindled, or black; it is exceedingly hardy; its milk is abundant and rich, and it possesses the additional advantage of rapidly fattening upon very moderate fare when brought from its native mountains into the plains and fertile country. This race have small heads, and rather short horns, turning upwards. They are very docile, although Fynes Moryson, writing in the times of Elizabeth, and Thomas Dineley, in those of Charles II., describe them as exceedingly ungentle, and "as wicked and rebellious as the people." Several possess many of the finest points belonging to the modern short-horns, and are in some respects superior as a stock, owing to their fattening as well as their milking qualities. Their beef is also most excellent. As was recently stated by his Excellency Lord Eglinton, "they are the thoroughbreds of cattle." Their chief localities are at present the mountains of the Kerry and Cork; but it is more than probable that in former times the race existed in all the regions of Ireland. It was said that during hard winters the people of Kerry thatched their cattle by means of mats tied on their backs. Droves of small Kerries are driven by jobbers over the whole country every year, and may sometimes be seen perambulating the streets of Dublin. Third, the Irish long-horns, similar to, but not identical with, the Lancashire and Craven; for while many of the race had wide-spreading horns, only slightly curved, the great majority of the Irish turned so completely inwards that they either crossed in front of or behind the mouth, or pressed so much inwards towards the cheek as to become a source of great irritation to the animal, and to require amputation. They were generally a red or brindled colour; had large bones, grew to a great size, particularly as bullocks, and their drooping horns, sloping gracefully under the chin, gave them a particularly calm expression of face. They were covered with a plentiful supply of hair, which protected them from the inclemency of the weather. This, together with the peculiarity of their constitutions, rendered them an exceedingly hardy race of cattle, never requiring winter fodder, except when the ground was covered with snow. They were not much used as milkers, but were the principal cattle sent to the Dublin market or exported to England thirty years ago. Their hides were of great value, being, when tanned, at least half an inch thick, and I have reason to believe that it was these hides which gained for the Irish leather so much celebrity both at home and abroad in former times. This breed principally abounded on the plains of Roscommon, and might justly be termed the Connaught ox. Fortunes were made in former times, chiefly out of these cattle, which would scarcely be credited at the present day. They grew, as I already stated, to a great size; but they took four or five years to come to perfection. Compared with some of the short-horned races, they possessed, I might almost say, an immunity from disease; they were very docile, and made good ploughers and cart oxen. I have heard it stated that this breed was imported from England about seventy years ago; but among the great collection of bones found at Dunshaughlin I discovered specimens of this race, although smaller than my old com-