the farm of Ferny flatt, parish of Kinneff, at that time farmed by Robert Hector. David mentions that during the seventeen years he was grieve at Brechin Castle, there were none of the Shorthorn cattle ever there. Their dairy cows were pure Ayrshires, and were always kept strictly separate from the black polled cattle. He also tells me that Panmure was ultimately bought by Mr M'Combie of Tillyfour, and remembers well that, previous to that purchase, the Forfarshire breeders always beat the Aberdeenshire ones, but after that, vice versa."

We may explain that it was Mr Farquharson Taylor, Wellhouse, Alford, who bought Panmure 51, after he had gained the first prize at the Highland Society's show in 1843.

Steps were taken in 1876 to rectify the errors in these pedigrees in the Herd Book.' Mr Fullerton wrote a letter, dated 20th October 1876, to the editor of the 'Herd Book,' making a short declaration similar in substance to that given in the foregoing; and breeders possessing vol. i. of the Herd Book' were requested to delete the asterisk prefixed to the entry of Black Meg 766, as well as the words signifying that she was the dam of Panmure 51. As regards the bull Panmure, it was ascertained from Mr John Collier, Hatton, Arbroath, that he purchased his dam in the year 1839 for Lord Panmure. The purchase was made from Mr Silver of Netherley, and "it was understood that the cow was bred in Buchan." The sire of Panmure was certified by Mr Collier to have been a bull named Hector, bred by Mr Hector, Ferny flatt. This bull does not seem to be entered in the Herd Book.' It was decided to regard Black Meg 766 as the cow that belonged to Mr Fullerton, and that produced his Queen of Ardovie 29; and to hold that the dam of Panmure 51, Black Meg, belonging to Lord Panmure (of whom Mr Collier testified that she had not a drop of Galloway blood in her), had not been registered.

G

These very unfortunate inaccuracies have thus been corrected since the appearance of vol. iv. of the 'Herd Book,' but the facts are made still more clear by the publication of Mr Fullerton's and Dr Simpson's interesting correspondence with Mr Jamieson.

The Keillor Jocks.

Mr Hugh Watson's herd at Keillor was one of those that, in the period that elapsed between the inception and the actual publication of the first volume of the Herd Book,' had been scourged by pleuro-pneumonia, and had been finally dispersed. To the causes we have indicated as explanatory of the confusion that occurred in many of the entries in vol. i. has to be added, in the case of the Keillor herd, a defective system of nomenclature, most of Mr Watson's animals having been called by the same names. There was a series of Jocks, distinguished merely by the prefixes "Tarnty," "Black," "Old," "Grey - breasted," "Young," "Second," &c. Then the females went under the common names of "Grannies," " Favourites," or "Beauties." It sometimes happened, too, that these names were applied indiscriminately to different animals, and it would also seem that some at least of the Keillor entries were made from recollection without the aid of documents. Reference to such easily accessible authorities as show and sale catalogues would have prevented several inaccuracies that have occurred.

The chief errors in the Keillor pedigrees are those that have crept into the entries of the bulls Old Jock 1 and Grey-breasted Jock 2. The pedigree of Old Jock 1, as given in vol. i., is very meagre. It simply states that he was bred by Hugh Watson, Keillor, and was the sire of certain animals. A footnote mentions that he was "descended by sire and dam from the old stock of Keillor doddies, a herd which obtained celebrity so far back as

1800. Old Jock gained the Highland Society's first prize in 1844, and was sold for one hundred guineas." We shall here only state that in 1844 the Highland Society gave no prizes for polled breeding stock. The pedigree of Grey-breasted Jock 2 is thus printed in vol. i.: “Calved, 1840. Bred by Hugh Watson, Keillor. Sire, Old Jock 1; dam, Favourite 2." The footnote adds, "Grey-breasted Jock obtained the Highland Society's first prize at Dundee in 1843, and at Inverness in 1846, and was afterwards sold to Mr Kirkaldy, near Ballinasloe, and exhibited by him at Londonderry in 1847, where he carried off the first prize of the Royal Dublin Society. In 1852, at thirteen years old, he gained the sweepstakes over all the bulls in the yard at the Highland Society's show at Perth."

One inaccuracy in this entry is as to the dam of Greybreasted Jock. The dam is said to have been Favourite 2. In the pedigree of Favourite 2 her sire is given as Greybreasted Jock 2-an evident impossibility. Then the footnote mentions that Grey-breasted Jock 2 gained the first prize at the Highland Society's show at Dundee in 1843. According to the date of birth given in the Herd. Book,' Grey-breasted Jock would in 1843 have been three years old, and if exhibited at Dundee must have competed in the aged class. It is well known that the first prize aged bull at Dundee in 1843 was Panmure 51. It is next stated that Grey-breasted Jock was sold to Mr Kirkaldy, near Ballinasloe, and gained for him the first prize of the Royal Dublin Society at the show at Londonderry in 1847. The Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland held a show at Londonderry in 1847, but the first-prize bull was not exhibited by Mr Kirkaldy, and was not Grey-breasted Jock. The first prize bull, shown by Mr. Watson, was an animal (erroneously entered in the catalogue under the name of Strathmore) " calved in March 1842; bred by the exhibitor." It will strike most people as singular that if Grey-breasted Jock was sold to Mr Kirk

aldy in Ireland in 1847, he should have again turned up in Mr Watson's possession in 1852, and gained the sweepstakes at the Perth show of the Highland Society that year.

In the foregoing analysis of the recorded pedigrees and statements in the Herd Book' as to Old Jock 1 and Grey-breasted Jock 2, we have hinted at several obvious contradictions. We have made minute inquiries into the facts, and have compared the entries in vol. i. with(1) published letters from Mr William Watson, son of Mr Hugh Watson; (2) letters addressed to the authors, in response to applications for information, by Mr Thomas Ferguson, Kinnochtry, Coupar-Angus, a contemporary of Mr Hugh Watson, and well acquainted with his stock; (3) Mr Hugh Watson's sale catalogue at Auchterty re in 1853; (4) catalogues of the early shows of the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland; (5) extracts furnished to us by the recorder of the Highland Society, Mr Thomas Duncan, of the original entries of the Keillor bulls exhibited at the shows of the Highland Society; and (6) the private catalogue of the Tilly four herd, dated 1850. We annex a summary of the information gleaned from the evidence of these authorities. It has been deemed advisable, so as to make the statement as clear as possible, to give all that we have been able to ascertain regarding the whole of the bulls known as Jocks that were at Keillor, and to arrange them in chronological order :

(1.) The first Jock used at Keillor was the bull TARNTY JOCK, calved in 1806, and purchased by Mr Hugh Watson at the Trinity Muir market, Brechin, in 1808. He is not entered in the 'Herd Book.'

(2.) The SECOND JOCK was after Tarnty Jock, and out of one of the cows which Hugh Watson received from his father, William Watson, in 1808. This bull is not entered in the 'Herd Book.'

(3.) The third Jock, named BLACK JOCK, was after Jock

This

No. 2 in this list, and out of a sister of his own. appears to have been the bull that gained for Mr Watson the first prize at the Highland Society's show at Perth in 1829. He is not registered in the Herd Book.'

:

(4.) The fourth Jock was GREY-BREASTED JOCK (No. 2 of 'Herd Book'). He was calved in 1839. His sire was Black Jock (No. 3 in this list), and his dam was a cow closely inbred to himself, and not entered in the 'Herd Book.' Grey-breasted Jock, of whom Mr William Watson and Mr Ferguson have a distinct recollection, gained the first prize at one of the shows of the Highland Society it is uncertain which. In 1843 he was exhibited at the show of the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland, at Belfast, in the catalogue of which he is entered as "Jock, four years and six months old." He there gained the first premium of forty sovereigns and the medal. After the Belfast show he was sold to Mr G. D. H. Kirkaldy, Hearnesbrook, Eyrecourt, near Ballinasloe, and never returned to Scotland. He is described by Mr William Watson as having been "of immense length, short on his leg, elegant in his gait, and masculine-looking: he was grand and massive all over, as well as a most kindly feeder."

(5.) The fifth Jock was OLD JOCK (No. 1 of the Herd Book'). This bull was bred by Hugh Watson, in 1842. He was got by Grey-breasted Jock (No. 2 of the Herd Book '), and was out of Old Favourite,-the dam of Favourite 2, and also of Angus 45. Old Favourite was lot one of Mr Watson's sale in 1848, when she was bought by Mr Bowie, Mains of Kelly. In Mr M'Combie's private catalogue, dated 1850, Angus 45 is stated to have had for dam "No. 1 at Mr Watson's sale." Old Jock gained the first prize as a yearling at the Highland Society's show at Dundee in 1843, and the first prize in the aged class at the Highland Society's show at Inverness in 1846. The only information given in the entry of the bull at the latter show was, that he was "aged four years and six months,