Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/97

 plum, or mulberry colour Is quite common, namely, the Jersey; and when the Jersey cattle of this colour are crossed with red or black cattle, the brindles of the Longhorns and Highlanders are produced. And from Jersey it is but a step to France and another to Switzerland for catde of the same colour.

These four sets of cattle—the Highlanders, Longhorns, Jerseys, and Swiss—being thus connected, the question next arising is, when and how did these blackish-brown cattle come to Britain? There is no clear mention of them till about a hundred years ago; but even then they were numerous. During the eighteenth century the cattle by which it was most sought to improve all others were the Longhorns. They were carried in great numbers to Ireland, to other parts of England and Wales, to Scotland, and even to the Orkneys. Many of them, as we know, were brindled, and when their brindled descendants were bred together the ancestral blackish-brown was bound to appear. Hence the suggestion in the beginning of this chapter that we do not know that the blackish-brown cattle themselves came to Britain. Their parents may have come.

But where did the Longhorns get their brindled colour? They originated in that part of England