Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/137

 are hornless, similar in weight to Shorthorns and Herefords, and black, with occasional white markings upon the back underline. In the stock-breeder's sense of the term the Aberdeen-Angus breed is pure; but the irregular occurrence of white on the underline suggests that from a more stringent point of view the purity is not absolute. For that matter, it is inconceivable that any set of animals of more than one cell—or even of one cell, perhaps—can ever be absolutely pure.

But other irregularities sometimes occur, although with less and less frequency as time goes on. A red calf, a calf with a white spot on its face, another with one or more white flecks on the body, another with "scurs," that is, small epidermal growths attached to the skin and not to the skull, are not entirely unknown. Twenty or thirty years ago such phenomena were more common than now. At that time a calf with a brown stripe down the back and a tan muzzle, another with brindle markings, and another with short horns was not a ferlie—was not a marvel. Sixty or seventy years ago these phenomena were all common, and horned and hornless cattle, many of the former the ancestors of the present-day hornless cattle, competed together for prizes even at the shows of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. A century ago the horned and