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Show 92 CATTLE. CIIAP. III. skin and the hair is likewise certain : thus Roulin asserts 69 that the hides of the feral cattle on the hot Llanos "ar:e always much less heavy than those of the cattl~ rais.ed on. the lugh. p1at~or~m of Bogota ; and that these hides yield m weight a~d m tlnckness f h ·. t those of the cattle which have run w1ld on the lofty o au o d . h h'd Paramos." The same difference has been observe m t e 1 es of the cattle reared on the bleak Falkland Islands and on ~he temperate Pampas. Low has remar~ed. 70 that the c~ttle .~vhich inhabit the more humid parts of Bntam have longer han and thicker skins than other British cattle ; and the hair and horns are so closely related to each other, that, as we shall s.ee in a future chapter, they are apt to vary together ; thus climate might indirectly affect, through the skin, the form and size of the horns. ·when. we compare highly improved stall-fed cattle with the wilder breeds, or compare mountain and lowland breeds, we cannot doubt that an active life, leading to the free use of the limbs and lungs, affects the shape and proportions of the whole body. It is probable that some breeds, such as the semimonstrous niata cattle, and some peculiarities, such as being hornless, &c., have appeared suddenly from what we may call a spontaneous variation ; but even in this case a rude kind of selection is necessary, and the animals thus characterized must be at least partially separated from others. This degree of care, however, has sometimes been taken even in little-civilized districts, where we should least have expected it, as in the case of the niata, cbivo, and hornless cattle in S. America. That methodical selection has done wonders within a recent period in modifying our cattle, no one doubts. During the process of methodical selection it has occasionally happened that deviations of structure, more strongly pronounced than mere individual differences, yet by no means deserving to be called monstrosities, have been taken advant.:'tge of: thus the famous Long-horn Bull, Shakespeare, though of the pure Cauley stock, "scarcely inherited a single point of the long-horned breed, his horns excepted; 71 yet in the hands of Mr. Fowler, 69 'Mem. de l'Institut present. par divers Savans,' tom. vi., 1835, p. 332. i0 Idem, pp. 304, 308, &c. 71 Youatt on Cattle, p. 1()3. A full account of this bull is taken from Marshall. CHAP. III. SIIEEP: THEIR. V ARI.A.TION. 93 this bull greatly improved his race. vVe have also reason to believe that selection, carried on so far unconsciously that there was at no one time any distinct intention to improve or change the breed, has in the course of time modified most of our cattle ; for by this process, aided by more abundant food, all the lowland British breeds have increased greatly in size and in early maturity since the reign of Henry VII.72 It should never be forgotten that many animals have to be annually slaughtered; so that each owner must determine which shall be killed and which preserved for breeding. In every district, as Youatt has remarked, there is a prejudice in favour of the native breed ; so that animals possessing qualities, whatever they may be, which are most valued in each district, will be oftenest preserved; and this unmethodical selection assuredly will in the long run affect the character of the whole breed. But it may be asked, can this rude kind of selection have been practised by barbarians such as those of southern Africa ? In a future chapter on Selection we shall see that this has certainly occurred to some extent. Therefore, looking to the origin of the many breeds of cattle which formerly inhabited the several districts of Britain, I conclude that, although slight differences in the nature of the climate, food, &c., as well as changed habits of life, aided by correlation of growth, and the occasional appearance from unknown causes of considerable deviations of structure, have all probably played their parts; yet that the occasional preservation in each district of those individual animals. which were most valued by each owner bas perhaps been even more effective in the production of the several British breeds. As soon as two or more breeds had once been formed in any district, or when new breeds descended from distinct species were introduced, their crossing, espeeiall y if aided by some selection, will have multiplied the number and modified the characters of the older breeds. SHEEP. I SHALL treat this subject briefly.• Most authors look at our domestic sheep as descended from several distinct species ; but how many still exist is doubtful. Mr. Blyth believ-es that there 72 Youatt on Cattle, p. 116. Lord Spencer has Wl'itten on this same subject. |