r is preferred. The head is small, fine and clean; the
face long and narrow at the muzzle, with a sprightly, yet generally mild
expression; eye small, smart and lively; the horns short, fine, and
slightly twisted upward, set wide apart at the roots; the neck thin;
body enlarging from fore to hind quarters; the back straight and narrow,
but broad across the loin; joints rather loose and open; ribs rather
flat; hind quarters rather thin; bone fine; tail long, fine, and bushy
at the end; hair generally thin and soft; udder light color and
capacious, extending well forward under the belly; teats of the cow of
medium size, generally set regularly and wide apart; milk-veins
prominent and well developed. The carcass of the pure bred Ayrshire is
light, particularly the fore quarters, which is considered by good
judges as an index of great milking qualities; but the pelvis is
capacious and wide over the hips.

On the whole, the Ayrshire is good looking, but wants some of the
symmetry and aptitude to fatten which characterize the short horn, which
is supposed to have contributed to build up this valuable breed on the
basis of the original stock of the county of Ayr, which extends along
the eastern shore of the Firth of Clyde, in the southwestern part of
Scotland.

The original stock of this country are described as of a diminutive
size, ill fed, ill shaped, and yielding but a scanty return in milk.
They were mostly of a black color, with large stripes of white along the
chine and ridge of their backs, about the flanks, and on their faces.
Their horns were high and crooked, having deep ringlets at the root--the
surest proof that they were but scantily fed; the chine of their backs
stood up high and narrow; their sides were lank, short, and thin; their
hides thick and adhering to the bones; their pile was coarse and open;
and few of them gave more than six or eight quarts of milk a day when in
their best condition, or weighed, when fat, more than from a hundred to
a hundred and sixty pounds avoirdupois, rejecting offal.

A wonderful change has since been made in the condition, aspect, and
qualities of the Ayrshire dairy stock. They are now almost double the
size, and yield about four times the quantity of milk that the Ayrshire
cows formerly yielded. A large part of this improvement is due to better
feeding and care, but much, no doubt, to judicious crossing. Strange as
it may seem, considering the modern origin of this breed, al