Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/68

 dun is not disliked. Pure white or streaked are counted inferior."

Here, in a few words, we have the early history of the modern Aberdeen-Angus breed. Scarcely had the inland horned black cattle begun to unite with the hornless coast cattle when they resolved to take in partners from the south. In course of time the amalgamation resulted in a breed with characters derived from several sources: blackness from the native horned cattle, hornlessness from the coast cattle, and size from the cattle from the south. Some of the characters brought in, and other characters which appeared during the process, were eventually eliminated. Here we are only concerned with the colours. We know those of the native horned cattle and of the cattle brought in from the south, and we also know the new colours that could have arisen from the mixing of these. Altogether they were: black from the native and the Fifeshire cattle; red, brindled, and white marks above and below from the Longhorns and their crosses; and red, red and white, roan, white, and blue roan from the Shorthorns. Brown was, perhaps, in the country before the southern cattle came in. If not, it came in with the Longhorns. But other colours are reported to have appeared by Youatt and the other writers quoted. There are yellow,