Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/95

 VII

far we have dealt with the different races of cattle that have come to Britain according to the order of their arrival. Now we have to deal with a race whose presence in Britain is a puzzle; for not only must we confess ignorance as to the date of its arrival, but even doubt as to whether it ever arrived at all. At the present day, animals of this race have an unpleasant habit of turning up unasked in several breeds, most notably among Highlanders and Longhorns. Among Highlanders these unwelcome visitors are almost black in colour with a brownish stripe along the back and a ring of similar colour round the muzzle. They are seldom retained for breeding purposes, unless they are unusually good heifers: in which cases they are registered as some shade of brown—in Gaelic donn—sometimes as a brindle.

In former times there were far more of these blackish-brown cattle in the Highlands than now. Indeed, early in the nineteenth century they were found wherever the old Celtic black cattle were 83