and close affinity. Those marked distinctions which they have come to display are, with the exception of that striking peculiarity, the want of horns (which shall presently be dealt with), exactly such as might be calculated to arise from the variations in their respective conditions of life, more particularly from the divergencies in the mode of treatment to which their owners have subjected them for many generations, nay, even for centuries. The truth of this statement will receive verification when, in dealing with the characteristics of the polled Aberdeen or Angus breed, we come to compare the sleeky polls which have been reared on the highly cultivated arable farms of the cold, dry north-east, with the more shaggy hornless cattle which have been produced on the soft natural pastures of Galloway, where the rainfall is much greater, and the cold less intense. Then a glance at the distinctions between the small "skranky" native horned cattle of the bleak, stormy, northern heights, and the massive, handsome Highlanders that occupy the lower, softer, greener, and better sheltered regions of the west, supplies equally forcible testimony of a similar kind.

In the foregoing digression we have indicated very briefly the grounds upon which we assign to all varieties. of true Scotch domestic cattle (some years ago grouped into three distinct breeds) one common origin in the aboriginal wild horned cattle of ancient Caledonia. We have now to trace the source and early history of the Aberdeen or Angus polled breed. It follows from what has been stated that we regard this beautiful race as a direct branch of the aboriginal horned cattle of Scotland thrown off by those sudden, "proper," "spontaneous," or "accidental" "organic changes" referred to in the preceding chapter. We go further, and say that the breed is indigenous to the very districts which still form its headquarters, the north-eastern counties of Scotland, with Forfar and Aberdeen as chief centres. There we believe

it to have originated, and there it has been brought out as one of the most handsome and most valuable of living varieties of cattle.

It would seem that in the ancient horned domestic cattle of Scotland there had been a tendency to those "spontaneous variations" that result in the loss of horns. We have seen that throughout the country numerous hornless varieties have appeared from time to time, most of them in such localities and under such circumstances as preclude the idea of their all having sprung from one offshoot, and force the conclusion that each represented a fresh departure or distinct "sudden organic change." We have learned from Johnson and Pennant that about a century ago there were hornless cattle in the Isle of Skye and in the county of Sutherland. Of these all traces have been lost. Youatt has told us that about the middle of the eighteenth century there were polled cattle in the old district of Galloway. These, it has been seen, have developed into an important and well-established breed bearing the name of its native. district. A mass of evidence has made us aware that, late in the last century and early in the present, polled cattle were pretty well diffused over certain parts of the north-east corner of Scotland. From these have come in direct descent the famous breed whose history and characteristics we have set ourselves to trace.

As to the precise date or period at which those sudden organic changes which have given us the Aberdeen or Angus polled breed may have occurred, we are left without any ray of light. It has been lost in the mists which envelop the darkened agricultural era ending with the last century. From negative evidence we conclude that the loss of horns must have occurred more than a hundred years ago. Beyond that the subject rests mainly on conjecture.

A careful investigation of all known works and circum

stances relating to the matter has led us to believe that, towards the end of the last century and beginning of the present, the higher parts of that section of the north-east of Scotland comprising the counties of Forfar, Kincardine, Aberdeen, and Banff had been occupied by a horned race of cattle, and the lower districts partly, perhaps mainly, by the same race, and in part also by a polled variety. In arriving at that conclusion, we have to some extent been influenced by circumstantial as well as by direct evidence. We have already noticed the perplexing absence of precise descriptions of cattle in the earlier works relating to the agriculture of the north, as well as of other parts of the country. In several of the earlier books dealing with rural matters in the north-east of Scotland, reference is made to the varieties of cattle which then existed; but, as a rule, they are simply described as having been large or small, as useful and docile, or as wild but handsome. In none of these publications do we find what could be called a complete and minute sketch of the animals referred to. It is thus found that the identification of some of the varieties spoken of by writers whose works appeared towards the close of the last century or the beginning of the present is a matter of considerable difficulty.

The breed takes one of its sub-titles from the old district of Angus, now mainly comprised in the county of Forfar. It is proved that there have been polled cattle. in that district for a very long period of time. In a pamphlet issued in March 1882, Mr James C. Lyell, Monifieth House, Forfarshire, says: "That a breed of hornless cattle existed in Strathmore [a strath which runs through Forfarshire] in very early times, is attempted to be proved from one of the ancient sculptured stones of Meigle, which is figured on Plate LXXVII. of the Spalding Club's Sculptured Stones of Scotland.' This stone is now in the old schoolhouse of Meigle, which has been set apart

as a museum for the preservation of these wonderful relics of prehistoric times. After examining it carefully, I am not satisfied that the two cattle depicted on it represent hornless animals. Judging from the engraving alone, I believed that the cattle represented were polls; but the artist has not adhered strictly to particulars in his drawing, as any one may see who compares it with the stone. In the same volume there are other representations of cattle, apparently polled, but I have not had an opportunity of comparing the drawings with the originals."

The same writer states that in an old MS. account-book belonging to Mr. G. B. Simpson, Broughty-Ferry, Dundee, commenced in 1683 by Mr Grahame of Balmuir, Kincaldrum, Dryborough, Duntrune, Powrie, and Meathie, the following among many other entries of cattle transactions occur: "Account of oxn bought June 9th, 1752.- To one humble oax from James Cramond, at 30 [pound Scots, value 1s. 8d. sterling]; to for 5 oxn at Monifith, at 34, 170; to 3 at Forfar, at 28, 84; to a branded oax, at 37; to a coy at Monifith, at 22; to ane oax at Methie, at 50; to ane oax at Methie, at 36." A little further on this entry is found: "June 14th, 1757-bought at Tealing roup, a two-year-old quach doded, at 26, 12; a yellow qugh, one-year-old, at 21, 6; a black D, one-year-old, at 17, 16; a yelow stot, one-year-old, 22, 6; a black quach calf, at 12, 8; a yelow stot calf, at 17, 6." Another entry in 1757 gives a list of the stock then on Balmuir: "10 oxen in the plew; 6 hors and 2 stags (staigs); 2 dodeds; 4 at calf-time; 4 three-year-olds; 2 year-old stots; 3 threeyear-old quaes; 5 year-old quaes; 2 calf stots; a cow." Mr Lyell, who has evidently examined carefully Ochterlony's description of Angus in 1684-85, as well as other early records of rural matters in Angus, says "the humble ox from James Cramond is the first mention of a polled beast" he had discovered. He seems, however, to think it probable that the "excellent breeds" which, according

to Ochterlony, were kept two hundred years ago by the "Earles of Strathmore, Southesk, Panmure, and Edzell, Pourie, Balnamoone," may have been "polled or dodded."

The first printed reference we have found to polled cattle in Angus occurs in the Old Statistical Account of the parish of Bendochy, near Coupar-Angus, and on the border of Forfarshire. The Rev. James Playfair, the writer of the account of this parish, dated 1797, says: "There are 1229 horned-cattle, of all ages and sexes, in the parish. I have no other name to them; but many of them are dodded, wanting horns." These two sentences are exceedingly interesting and suggestive. In early times, the word cattle included both the ox and the horse; and it would seem that, to distinguish the former from the latter, the terms "black cattle" and "horned cattle" had been commonly employed. It is evident, from Mr Playfair's remarks, that even so late as the end of last century, the term "horned cattle" had not been limited to its literal meaning, but had comprehended all varieties of the ox. There is little doubt that, had he not been of a more discriminating turn of mind than many early writers on agricultural matters, and in particular than most of his brethren who contributed to Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland,'-in fact, had he not been a skilful naturalist, as well as a minister of the Church, he would have left us without the simple but significant explanation that, although he had no other name but "horned cattle" to give the cattle of Bendochy, yet "many of them are dodded, wanting horns." In all probability, the loose application of such distinctions as black and horned, just indicated, is largely to blame for the puzzling ambiguity which many of the early writers have thrown around most of the varieties of cattle they pretended to describe. The statement of Mr Playfair, however, in conjunction with the quotations produced from Mr Lyell's pamphlet, would seem to be sufficient to justify the belief that, during the closing de