CArTLE

) RITAIN

SOS SARA RE

Lapeer tee

Uae

ae,

Rev. Joun STORER.

Pibrary of the Museum

OF

COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY,

AT HARVARD COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

Sounded by private subscription, in 1861.

THE

WILD WHITE CATTLE

OF

GREAT BRITAIN.

An Account of their Origin, History, and Present State.

BY

THe tate REV. JOHN STORER, M.A.,

Of Hellidon, Northamptonshire.

EDITED BY HIS SON,

JOHN STORER.

BENEDICITE OMNES BESTIL4Z ET PECORA DOMINO,
LAUDATE ET SUPERESE ALTATE EUM IN SECULA,

CASSEL, PRErTtER* 2G ALPIN:
LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORE.

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |

L749,

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER If.

12)

Origin of Cattle—Hvropean Races of Cattle—Fossil Species—Small Celtic
Ox probably descended from Bos Longifrons—The larger Races from

Bos Urus—Historical Notices of the Urus . : 0 6 o ahha

CHAPTER II.

Allied Races of White Cattle—Prejudice against White unfounded—Antiquity
of the Colour—White preferred for Religious Ceremonies and Festivals
—White Cattle imported for such Purposes from the native Country of
the Urus—No Authority for the Opinion that the Urus was Black—The
Augsburg Picture—Apparent Connection between the Urus and various
domestic Races of White Cattle—The Charolais Breed—The Friesland
Ox—Holstein Cattle—Hungarian—Transylvanian—Cattle of the Rus-
sian Steppes—British Wild Cattle similar in all important Characteristics
—All probably descended from the ancient Urus . : : : eG

CHAPTER III.

_The Urus in ancient Britain—Fossil Remains found in both the Stone and
Bronze Ages—Likely to survive much later in the North—Harly Notices
of Wild Cattle—Such Notices relate to Southern England—Hxtreme
Wildness of the Northern Mountainous Districts—These Districts the
last Home of British Wild Animals 3 ; 6 é : 9 . 50

CHAPTER IV.

From Forest to Park—Gradual Extinction of Wild Animals in Forests,
whilst still remaining in the Parks—Historical Notices of Wild Cattle
in Parks—Tradition of Saint Robert—Park Cattle the great Improvers
of the Durham or Teeswater Cattle—The Studley Herd a White Breed
—The Bishop of Durham’s White Cattle at Bishop Auckland—The
Crest of the Nevill Family a White Bull—Chillingham—The Chillingham
Cattle perhaps from the Royal Park at Chatton—Naworth—Frequent
Mention of Wild Cattle under the Name of “ Wild Beasts” —Leigh
Park, Somerset . ‘ é ‘ P j : : ; F a GAl

CHAPTER V.

Ancient Domestic Races of White Cattle in England and Wales—Notices of
them scarce, and not found as expected in Records of the Monasteries

AGE

iv

The

Th

oO

=

CONTENTS.

—Custom at Knightlow Cross—Coincidence of this Custom with the
Local Legend of the Wild Cow of Dunsmore Heath—White Cattle in
Wales and especially in Pembroke—Notices of them in ancient Welsh
Laws—Four Hundred presented to the Queen of King John—Distinct-
ness from other Welsh Cattle—Herd at Vale Royal—Ballad of “‘ Hughie
the Greme ”—The Lyrick Herd . 2 : 5 i

CHAPTER VI.
Wild White Cattle in ancient Scotland—Former Wildness of the
Country—Purity and Trustworthiness of Highland Traditions—Traces
of White Cattle in Local Names—Allusions in Sir Walter Scott’s Works
—‘‘ Duneraggan’s Milk-white Bull”—Description by Boethius of the
Wild Bull—The Turnbull Legend—Boethius confirmed by other Testi-
mony on the most disputed Points—Bellenden and Leslie regarding the
Bull’s “ Mane ”’—Localities mentioned by Bishop Leslie—Clear Distinc-
tion drawn by him between the Wild White Cattle and the Kyloe
Breed—Discoveries of Bones of the Urus in Scotland—Their compara-
tively small Size —Desirability of further Investigation by Geologists

CHAPTER VII.

Chillingham Herd—Mentioned by Culley and Pennant—Bewick’s
Account—Differences in these Statements—Brief Account of Chilling-
ham—Lord Tankerville’s Account of the Herd—Riitimeyer’s Opinion—
Notice in 1689 corroborates Bewick as to Colour of the Hars—Further
Particulars by Lord Tankerville—Jesse’s Statement that the Herd was
once reduced to one Cow in Calf incorrect—Mr. Hindmarsh’s Account—
Last published Account of the Herd by “‘ The Druid” in 1870

CHAPTER VIII.
Chillingham Herd (continwed)—Shooting of a Bull by H.R.H. the Prince
of Wales—Visit of Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell, Mr. Booth, and Mr. Thornton
—My own Visit in 1874—Length of Time the Calves are suckled—
Desirability of examining Creswell Moss for Fossil Remains . a

CHAPTER IX.

The Chillingham Herd (continued)—The Chillinghams essentially Wild Cattle

The

—Attacks upon’ Mr. Hope—upon Lord Ossulston—and the Keeper—
Landseer’s Pictures—Thin Red Line above the Muzzle—a Characteristic
of the Herd—The Mane—Tendency to Black in Hars and Horns—and

of Black Spots . : 0 9 : : 5 : 3 4 5
CHAPTER X.

Chillingham Herd (continued)—Constitution and Government of the
Herd—Combats of the Bulls sometimes fatal—Calves produced at all
Seasons—Concealment of the Calves—Sick Animals often gored—
Weight and Quality of Meat—Statistics of the Herd, past and present
—Questions of Fecundity and Inter-Breeding—No Proof that the Herd
has never been crossed—Herds of Deer crossed—No Difficulty formerly
in obtaining a Cross—Probability that the Herd has been crossed

PAGE

. 102

~ Ail)

. 144

- 165

184

. 200

CONTENTS. a

CHAPTER XI.
PAGE

The Chartley Herd—Early Notices ef these Cattle as “ Wild Beasts ”»—
Black Calves considered a fatal Omen—My own first Visit—Grand
and massive Character of the Cattle—The Herd ‘‘ Long-horns’—My
Second Visit—Peculiar Characteristics of these Cattle—They resemble
those in Somerford Park—Not so wild as the Chillingham Cattle—
Black Calves—Attempts to cross the Herd—White Cattle in the
Neighbourhood—Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell’s Description—Mr. Thornton’s 218

CHAPTER XII.

The Lyme Park Herd—The Legh Family—Hansall’s Account of the Herd—
My own Visit, 1875—Details given by Mr. Legh—Attempts to procure
a Cross—Result of the Chartley Cross—Curious Result of the Polled
Gisburne Cross—Habits of the Old Lyme Cattle—Larger than any
existing Wild Breed in this Country—The Burton Constable Herd
—Refusal of Information—Bewick’s Account—Destruction of the Herd
by Distemper—Probable Origin of the Herd . 6 . : : . 245

CHAPTER XIII.

The Somerford Park a Domesticated Herd—Probably Connected with the
Lyme Park and Chartley Herds—My Visit in 1875—Points of the
Cattle—Their Fine Milking Qualities—Probable Use of Diluted Crosses
—Antiquity of the Herd—Its Origin—Interesting Hvidence as to Colour
of the Wild Cattle—The Wollaton Hall Herd—Existing in 1790—Was
a Polled Herd—Mr. Burton’s Account—Rev. Mr. Willoughby’s—This
Herd only semi-domesticated—Extinguished by Negligence and In-
breeding—Probable Origin of the Wollaton Herd—Greater Tendency to
Black in the Southern Herds ‘ : 0 . . 3 5 BS

CHAPTER XIV.

The Gisburne Park Herd—Related to the Middleton—Bewick’s Description
in 1790—Whitaker’s, in 1805—A Polled Herd—Originally from
Whalley Abbey—or possibly from Middleton—Its semi-domesticated
Character—Became Extinct in 1859—Lord Ribblesdale’s Account—
Rey. T. Staniforth’s—Mr. Assheton’s—The last Animal killed on
Nov. 10, 1859—The Herd perished from In-breeding—This often
perfects the Individual, but annihilates the Race—The Middleton Hall
Herd—Dr. Leigh’s Account, in 1700—Then ‘‘ Wild Cattel”—and
Polled—Probable Origin—Finally removed to Gunton Park . 0 . 277

CHAPTER XV.

The Gunton Park Herd originally from Middleton—Progress towards
Domestication in Norfolk—Portrait of the original Lancashire Bull—
Lord Suffield’s Description—Mr. Coleman’s—Resemblance to the Polled
Cattle of Somerford Park—The Herd extinct, save in Off-sets from it—
Influence in the District—Blickling Hall Herd descended from the

a

Vi

CONTENTS.

Gunton Park Cattle—Rev. G. Gilbert’s Report in 1875—Severe Injury
to the Herd from Cattle Plague—Characteristics of the Cattle—Quite
Domesticated—The Woodbastwick Herd—A\so from the Gunton Cattle
—Not now Pure—Calves exchanged with Blickling—Crossed with
Short-horns in 1864— Rev. G. Gilbert’s Report in 1875—These White
Polled Cattle quite distinct from those of Scotland or the Eastern
Counties— White Cattle of Brooke House—Proofs of the Influence of
the Wild Breed upon English Domestic Cattle . . > - °

CHAPTER XVI.

Extinct Seottish Herds—The Cumbernauld Herd—History of the Cumber-

nauld Hstate—Historical and Heraldic Notices of the Cattle—Their
Hxtinction—The Drumlanrig Herd—Notices of the Cattle, and their
Extinetion—The Auchencruive Herd—The Ardrossan Herd—Introduced
about 1750—Abandoned im 1820—Tradition that the Cattle were
originally horned—Removal of the last Specimens to Duchal, and
Disappearance there . . 3 - c

> ° . -

CHAPTER XVII.

Existing Scottish Herds of White Cattle—The Hamilton Herd—Mr. Brown’s

Description — Differences between the Hamilton and Chillingham Cattle
—-Nearly extirpated during the Cromwellian Period—Probability of
their being Crossed then and subsequently—Further Probability that

PAGE

299

. 320

they were formerly Hornless—Now only partially so—Mr. Chandos- |

Pole-Gell’s Account—The Athole Herd—Sold in 1834—and then divided
—Lord Breadalbane’s Portion lost as a Pure Herd—But crossed with

other Cattle—The Duke of Buccleuch more successful—James Aitchi-
son’s Account of the Dalkeith Herd—Slaughtered in 1838, with sole

Exception of one Bull—The Kilmory semi-wild Herd—How formed by
Sir John Orde—Last Cross in 1852—Present State and Management
of the Kilmory Herd—Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell’s Account of it

CHAPTER XVII.

Conclusions—General Resemblanece in the White Herds—White not im-

The Turnbull Legend

probably the Colour of the Ancient Urus—Differences—These Differ-
ences extend even to Structure—Proof the White Herds afford of the
Destructive Effects of In-breeding 3

APPENDIX I.

APPENDIX It.

A List of Localities where Wild White Cattle or their Descendants are

proved to have existed .

. 307

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

peer rere

PAGE
MoLpDAVIAN OXEN . : ; j 6 i ; : 3 ; 5
WHITE CATTLE AND LION, FROM POMPEII . ‘é ; F ; - ao
Supposep “ Bos Urus” . ‘ , : ; ; : ; ; = 826
CHAROLAIS DRAUGHT Ox. 5 3 : ‘ ‘ i ‘ ; . ol
HUNGARIAN BuLL ., , ; is : : ‘ : ‘ > Sts}
CATTLE OF RUSSIAN STEPPES , i Z . A : : ; . A6
STIRLING CASTLE . ‘ ‘ : ; 6 : ; ‘ : . 134

HEAD OF CHILLINGHAM BULL SHOT By H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES . 169

HEAD OF A CHARTLEY BULL , 5 5 5 ‘ 5 ‘ : 5 PPS
GROUP OF CHARTLEY CATTLE . ; F : ‘i i : ‘ . 229
HORNS OF CHARTLEY CATTLE, ‘ 5 , , 5 ; 5 . 242

GUNTON WHITE BULL, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT FROM THE

MIDDLETON HERD . F : 0 F 3 p : A Aeeroi ip

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PREFACE.

—S——=

It is with pleasure that I feel myself in a position—
although after some inevitable delay—to place before the
public the present work. Its author, unfortunately, did
not live to altogether complete his researches ; still less
to give the results of them to the world with that
precision and accuracy which would have satisfied
him ; and the want can now never be supplied. It was,
indeed, in a great measure, the conscientious care with
which he sought information upon every doubtful point,
even when apparently only trifling, and the zeal with
which he investigated every accessible record of the
past that he thought could throw even the most
partial light upon the subject of his investigations,
which, more than any other cause, prevented him
from seeing this book published in his lifetime. And
this will be found, I fear, to be a loss to others
besides himself; for in the case of a work of this
kind—dealing, as it does, with many undecided ques-
tions, upon some of which great differences of opinion
exist—it is a double misfortune when the author does
not live to complete and to publish it himself. First,
because it has not been in his power thoroughly to
reconsider, with the whole before his eyes, what he
has asserted ; to weigh again objections, and to clear up

x PREFACE.

by the latest obtainable information any points which he
might have regarded as being doubtful. Secondly, be-
cause no one but the author can so satisfactorily maintain
his views after publication, reply to objections, and make
concessions, if, after controversy, any of his opinions
are found untenable.

Such considerations should not be disregarded by
the reader, if anywhere in these pages he meet with
some statement or opinion not wholly, as he thinks, —
in accordance with another expressed elsewhere. The
book has not been harmonised, nor its contents collated,
by any last review of its author, so as to bring about a
complete verbal agreement in all cases. A little re-
flexion will generally show that there is no real inconsis-
tency. It may also very well happen that the opinions
expressed will appear to be less clearly established than
they might have been, had the power of reply remained
with the author. He alone was competent to have
adequately defended his own views.

Still, in spite of all these drawbacks, I cannot but
hope that the present work may not only be found of
a positive value with reference to the subjects with
which it deals, and interest many who follow kindred
pursuits to those the author took so much delight in;
but that it will appeal also to a wider public. Nothing
ought to have more interest for us children of a high
civilisation than to look back to earlier and ruder times,
when men were few and wild beasts plentiful; and
nothing, I think, does interest us more. To us, living
as we do in a land cultivated lke a garden, where
scarcely a wild creature could exist without strict preser-

PREFACH. xi

vation, and where our very wastes are more or less arti-
ficial, it is refreshing to find ourselves breathing a new
atmosphere, so to speak ; roaming through the primeval
forest, and pondering on its wild yet fruitful life. This
is the spirit which takes men into the heart of countries
now desert, and makes them the companions of wild
beasts and savages. It arises from that love of nature
and of adventure which is the salt of life; and hardly in
any form can it be more harmlessly and profitably em-
ployed than when it leads us to a retrospect of our own
country in ages past, and to a study of the animals
which wandered wild in its then vast woods and wastes.
Whether the declining herds of our Wild Cattle now
existing are lineally descended from the Urus, or have
some other origin, is a question of high interest, though
only to a few; but a picture, such as the author has
endeavoured to give us, of our native England as it once
was, has, I should say, a wider interest.

When the author died I found the work, although
quite sufficiently advanced for publication, yet not al-
together finished. The accounts of the several herds,
with two exceptions (those of Hamilton and Kilmory),
may be, I think, regarded as having received all but the
last verbal corrections of the writer, and are sub-
stantially as he would have published them. The earlier
portion of the book, too, was in a very forward state, as
will be seen, and contains a succinct yet complete
general history of the Wild Cattle of this country, and
of kindred races abroad. Still, I am inclined to believe
that, if Mr. Storer had lived, this part of the book
would have been at least partially re-written and re-

xii PREFACE.

arranged. He had been m constant correspondence with
many persons in all parts of the country able to give
him more or less information since he wrote it, and this
might perhaps have induced him to extend and amplify
some portions of his narrative. At any rate he would
doubtless have submitted it to a complete and severe
revision. In particular, I may state that with regard to
the early history of the Urus he was much struck with
the fact, lately brought to his notice, that wild bulls,
presumably of this type, were hunted by early Assyrian
monarchs, as recorded in the series of Egyptian and
Assyrian documents called “ Records of the Past; if
and that various portraitures of these animals, upon
both bowls and wall-paintings, are preserved in the
British Museum. If he had lived to investigate this
subject, the results would have been given to the public.
The same remarks apply equally—perhaps with even
more foree—to the concluding chapter.

The account of the Hamilton herd was also left in-
complete, for the reason that the author was, up to the
time of his death, busily engaged in endeavouring to
obtain information with regard to the curious change
from horned (presumably, at least) to polled, and then
again from polled to horned, which this herd has under-
gone. I was, therefore, obliged to use for this book
an earlier narrative which Mr. Storer had left of this, as
of several other herds, incorporating with it a report
upon the cattle of this strain now existing, written by
Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell. That of the Kilmory herd
seems complete, except that a similar report from the
same gentleman had not been incorporated with it.

PREFACE. xili

The text of the book has been left by me in all
respects as Mr. Storer left it, with the sole exception
of a few merely verbal corrections. A few notes it
seemed well to add are carefully distinguished. In
every case I have been most particular to preserve the
exact meaning of the author, even to the minutest
shade.

The only other alterations are the omission of
Youatt’s description of the Chillingham cattle from the
account of that herd, and the relegation of the history of
Turnbull from the text to an Appendix. These seemed
justified, the first by the sufficiency of detail with which
the Chillmgham herd is already treated; the second
by its being largely episodical. For the headings of the
chapters I am responsible, with the advice and assist-
ance of the publishers ; to whose co-operation, indeed,
I am largely indebted in the task of preparing the
book for the press.

It remains only for me to thank, in my father’s
name—as he would have done, I am sure, far more
amply and in detail if he had been living—all those
who assisted him in procuring information. These
were very numerous, and include persons of almost
every rank in life, and of a great variety of occupa-
tions. Some—indeed many—were particularly kind,
and took very great trouble in helping my father to
obtain that large amount of detailed information, with-
out which his researches must have been to a great
extent without result.

JoHN STORER.

i

f vee
eng Te hi
vid

rf oe 2

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION.

——

Tere exist now, and there have existed in this country
from the earliest historic times, herds of White Cattle,
perfectly distinct, and of a different breed from its
ordinary domestic races. Some of these herds seem
to have been always wild, some more or less domes-
ticated, and in other respects also they somewhat varied
—as might have been expected, living as they did in
localities far apart, and subjected as they were to
various modes of treatment. But in colour they were
everywhere alike, and everywhere different from others ;
and though among domestic animals nothing is so
fleeting and variable as colour, yet even among these a
persistency of the same tint during long ages clearly
indicates the antiquity of the race. How much more is
this true when not only, as in the case of the White
Cattle, the same general colour has been preserved under
the most adverse circumstances, but when small and
oftentimes wnobserved minutiz of secondary markings
have everywhere distinguished them.

While, then, a few of our wild white herds of cattle,
and some memory of others recently extinct, remain,
let me, though incompetent in many respects to under-
take so arduous a task, call attention to these most
ancient races—races preserving in Great Britain alone,
in some degree, their former character, and to which, I

xvi AUTHORS INTRODUCTION.

feel confident, many if not all of our modern breeds of
cattle owe to some extent their present value and
improvement. In another generation it will perhaps be
too late to attempt this; on the Continent the oppor-
tunity is long since past. In this country also many
herds have died out, and the memory of them is rapidly
vanishing; while the aggressiveness of the nineteenth
century, of modern ideas of breeding incompatible with
the nature of things, or neglect, are only too lkely
to tell on those which still remain. In the time of
Bewick, fifteen years less than a century ago, these
white herds, once very numerous, as Bewick himself
affirms, were reduced, according to his account, to five:
two others, of which he gives a brief description,
having become extinct a few years before that time.
Of these five herds which he mentions, three have come
to an end within the present century, and another is in
a state by no means flourishing. I hope, however, to
show that there were in the time of Bewick other herds
of the White Cattle in existence; now, day by day,
those which yet remain decrease in number, and even
the owners of the few survivors are in some cases little
aware of the antiquity of their herds. It is high time
then that public attention should be called to these
interesting relics of past times, before it is too late.

It seems, indeed, remarkable that such races have
survived so long as they have; for their colour is disliked
by almost all British breeders, even in the central por-
tions of the island; while in the remoter parts—in
Sussex, Devon, Wales, and the Highlands of Scotland—
to extirpate every vestige of white in their cattle has
been the fashion amongst the inhabitants for ages; and
in Ireland a white bull is—as indeed he would be in most

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION. xvii

parts of England or Scotland in the present day—nearly
or quite unsaleable. ‘The white herds could not have
held their own, as they have done, in spite of this mass
of prejudice, had they not possessed the prestige of
great antiquity, and been derived from a race long con-
sidered of superior value to all others. Old traditions
clustered round them, and gave them an unique value
and interest in the eyes both of their few and usually
rich owners, and of the people of the neighbourhoods
in which they were kept.

Bewick was a Northumbrian, and well acquainted
with the Chillingham herd. He was a wood-engraver,
living at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and in spirit combined
with truthfulness his engravings of animals have never
been surpassed; he was also a clever and enthusiastic
naturalist. In 1790 he published his “General History —
of Quadrupeds,” illustrated by his own engravings.
His statement in that work is as follows:—‘‘ There
was formerly a very singular species of Wild Cattle in
this country, which is now nearly extinct. Numerous
herds of them were kept in several parks in England
and Scotland, but they have been destroyed by various
means; and the only breeds now remaining in the
kingdom are in the park at Chillmgham Castle, in
Northumberland; at Wollaton, in Nottinghamshire,
the seat of Lord Middleton ; at Gisburne, in Craven, in
Yorkshire; at Limehall, in Cheshire; and at Chartley,
in Staffordshire.” In addition, he mentions the herds
at Burton Constable and Drumlanrig, then recently
extinct.

In this account Bewick does not allude to the
Hamilton herd, now so well known, possibly for reasons
which I shall afterwards consider. Nor does he take any

xviii AUTHORS INTRODUCTION.

notice—it may be because they were no longer wild—
of cattle resembling them in form and colour, which
were then not uncommon in several parts of England,
Wales, and Scotland; though the similarity of their
descent to that of some of the wild herds was not
only strongly indicated by their own character and
appearance, but in certain instances was confirmed by
their history.

The universal colour of these herds was white; in
general pure, approximating, however, in a few instances,
tocream-colour, but with certain points otherwise coloured,
and these points generally é/ack. The tips of the horns,
the muzzle, the circle round the eyes, the hoofs, were in
all the herds black; in some the extremity of the tail
was of the same colour; while the ears in all were either
black or brownish-red inside, and wholly or partially
of the same colour outside the ear also. In most of
them the front part of the fetlock, particularly of the
fore-legs, was marked with black, and in all there were
a few black hairs on the leg, a little above the hoof.
In all of them, too, there was I believe a tendency,
more or less slight, to produce small black or bluish-
black spots on the neck, and even sometimes on the
body. All were subject to occasional variations. In-
dividuals were born, though somewhat rarely, with
more than the average amount of white on the horns,
ears, about the eyes, on the muzzle and hoofs, or on
some of these parts; and in some, black, or black-and-
white calves now and then appeared: but these last
were always destroyed when young, in order to ets
the original characteristics of the ard

In ‘all cases and in all parts, dozens of vvnedece
living far distant from each other, have testified to the

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION. xix

superior quality of the beef of the Wild Cattle, as being
in flavour and excellence far more delicious than that
of any other breed. Where partially domesticated,
they were generally found most valuable in consequence
of their milking powers; and there are sufficient indi-
cations to lead us to believe that they were formerly of
large size.

It may seem somewhat strange to people now, con-
sidering that White Cattle are still seen very frequently,
to assert that the herds of that colour, which can be
traced to a very high antiquity, are to be regarded, on
account of their being of that colour, as of a peculiar race.
Yet history plainly indicates that in Great Britain this
was in reality the case. Ancient laws and allusions show
us clearly that the white cow or bull, with red or black
ears, was preferred to all others. This was the breed
especially selected by great men and religious bodies to
retain—much more frequently than now—in their en-
closed domains ; and we cannot for an instant doubt that
it was so selected on account of its superior value, or
that its distinctiveness and peculiarity of colour with
reference to other breeds was formerly much more highly
prized than it is in the present day. The greater part
of these herds—and especially those belonging to the
monasteries—became fused with the ordinary cattle of
the country some three hundred years ago; and even
where this was not the case, their improving influence
was probably considerable. In the following pages the
reasons for and the nature of this influence will be
attempted to be shown.

The origin of the British White Cattle is obscure.
On the one hand, local tradition, in many parts of the
country far separated from each other, declares some of

XX AUTHORS INTRODUCTION.

them at least to be of the aboriginal wild breed of the
British forests—an opinion supported by some historical
statements and some osteological examinations. On
the other hand, the recent inquiries of certain eminent
scientific men have led them to doubt the truth of this,
and to believe that these cattle were more recently,
though anciently, imported from abroad. My own
opinion is not disguised, but is not, I hope, too dog-
matically expressed. The whole subject is at present
involved in doubt, and not ripe for an absolute solution.
Much further research and investigation are, I think,
required; and my principal business seems to be to
throw light both on the present and the past, and thus
to give some assistance to others more competent than
myself towards arriving at a satisfactory conclusion.

* * A portion of this Work has appeared in Zhe Live Stock Journal, to
which paper the Rev. John Storer was a frequent contributor, under the nom
de plume of ‘ Historicus.”

Le WihLD WHITE CATTLE
OF GREAT BRITAIN.

—_+0—_——

CHAPTER I.

Origin of Cattle—European Races of Cattle—Fossil Species—Small Celtic Ox
probably descended from Bos Longifrons—The larger Races from Bos
Urus—Historical Notices of the Urus.

Brrore I proceed to describe the British Wild White
Cattle as they now exist, it seems desirable to state what
is known of their origin: and history. The European
cattle—generally included under the name Bos tauwrus—
as a whole differ much in structure, habits, and
osteological formation from the humped kinds which
inhabit tropical countries—called in India Zebus, and
to which the name of Bos Indicus has been given.
Mr. Darwin * comes to the conclusion, that ‘there can
hardly be a doubt, notwithstanding the adverse opinion
of some naturalists, that the humped and non-humped
cattle must be ranked as specifically distinct.” To this
it must be added that most existing Huropean cattle are
supposed to descend from some one or more of the “ two
or three species or forms of Bos, closely allied to living
domestic races, which have been found fossil in the more
recent tertiary deposits of Europe.” These were, it is

* For this and the following quotations, see Darwin’s “ Animals and
Plants under Domestication,” vol. i., chap. iii.

B

2 | WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

presumed, distinct species, for “they co-existed in
different parts of Europe during the same period, and
yet kept distinct. Their domesticated descendants, on
the other hand, if not separated, cross with the utmost
freedom, and become commingled.”

Following Darwin, who himself follows Nilsson and
Riitimeyer, we find that the two principal fossil species,
and those from which all our British cattle probably
descend, were :—(1) Bos urus (antiquorum), or Bos primi-
genius (recentiorum)—a colossal ox, with enormous horns,
larger than those of any known domestic race; these,
near the roots, were directed outward and somewhat back-
ward, in the middle they were bent forward, and towards
the points turned a little upward. They were generally
round, the diameter of them varying very slightly in
whatever direction taken. The forehead was concave,
the edge of the neck straight. (2) Bos longifrons (alias
Brachyceros)—the small Celtic short-horned ox. The
following description of it is partly taken from Professor
Nilsson,* partly from my own observations :—'The
forehead, somewhat flat, has a very prominent ridge
standing up along the middle, and a smaller indenting
backwards; the horns are much flattened and compressed,
small, and directed outwardly upwards, and bent in one
direction forwards. From the slender make of its
bones, its body must rather have resembled that of a deer
than our common tame ox; its legs at the extremities are
certainly shorter and also thinner than those of a crown
deer (full-antlered stag). The skull is long and narrow,
even more so than that of a deer. ‘The rest of the

* Paper on “The Extinct and Existing Bovine Animals of Scandinavia,”
by Professor Nilsson, of Lund, in Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. ii.,
Second Series. :

FOSSIL HUROPEAN OXEN. 3

skeleton is much like that of the tame ox, but each bone,
in proportion to the length, more slender and thin.

Two other species of fossil European oxen might be
mentioned; but of these the most important—Jos
Jrontosus of Nilsson, a race larger than Bos longifrons,
and regarded as allied to it, though in the opinion of
some good judges it is a distinct species—appears to
have been little known in Britain, though co-existing in
Scania with its allied variety. The other, Bos trocho-
ceros, is now considered by Riitimeyer to be the female
of an early domesticated form of Bos primgenius, and
as the progenitor of the frontosus race. Specific names
have also been given to four others, which are now
believed to be identical with Bos primigenius.

From the above fossil species most of the European
races of cattle undoubtedly descend, more or less directly.
In many instances, however, they have been produced
by the commingling of more than one species, while
climate and the selection of man have contributed to
produce further modifications. And another considera-
tion still further complicates the subject. “ Although
certain races of cattle, domesticated at a very ancient
period in Europe, are the descendants of the above-
named fossil species, yet it does not follow that they
were here first domesticated.” * All recent discoveries
seem to establish the fact, long since believed, that in
the course of long ages, successive tribes of men—
Iberians, Scythians, Celts, Teutons—following and
superseding each other like the waves of the sea, came
from the East to Western Hurope, and, like the Israelites
when they left the land of Egypt, brought their cattle
—their richest possession—with them. Philology has

* Darwin: “ Animals and Plants,” vol. i., chap. iii.
BQ

4. WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

been called in to support this view; but as Mr. Darwin
thinks, inconclusively ; for he conceives these tribes
would naturally give to the cattle of their adopted
country the same names they had given to those they
left behind them. Still the fact remains, that simul-
taneously with new races of men new breeds of cattle
appeared, and that our domestic races were in some
degree affected by them. More extended inquiries on
this point may possibly hereafter throw some light upon
the migrations of man himself.

But passing over the comparatively unknown, we
come to historic times, dating, as respects Britain at least,
from the first landing of Ceesar in the year 55 before the
Christian era. Long before that, nevertheless, as is now
abundantly proved, the gigantic Bos uwrus and the Bos
longifrons also had, in common with various other wild
animals, inhabited its forests and its marshes, and
perhaps been the food of its then barbarous people.
But ages had passed since that remote epoch, and
when Cesar came he found here, as in Gaul, a Celtic
civilisation, to which a Roman historian (and the his-
torians of the time were all Roman) was scarcely com-
petent to do justice. This Celtic civilisation, from
whatever source derived—partly, in all likelihood, from
the Pheenicians, but certainly from the Hast—at whose
head were the Druids, and whose metropolis was Britain,
was suppressed by the Roman conquests both here and
in Gaul, but finally culminated some centuries later in
Ireland, which had never been enthralled beneath the
Roman yoke. To Celtic civilisation historians even yet
have scarcely done full justice; but even Cesar alludes
to it not obscurely. He saw indeed very little of the
interior, the inhabitants of which he describes as not

THH CHLTIC OX. 5

cultivating the land, but subsisting upon milk and flesh
and clothed with the skins of animals, while the mari-
time parts had attained to a higher culture. But of
the whole he says that “the multitude of inhabitants
was infinite, the edifices most frequent, and the number
of the cattle great.” * These cattle were the small
Celtic Bos longifrons. Careful examinations made by
scientific men of the remains found in refuse heaps, in
caves, and elsewhere, seem to show, so far as has yet
been ascertained, that this was the only domesticated
ox of the ancient Britons, and that it was this variety
which subsequently, during the Roman occupation of
Britain, supphed with beef its Romanised inhabitants,
and also the Roman legionaries. This small, deer-like
ox, as Nilsson has described it, was then everywhere
present in a domesticated state. It is supposed to have
been of a dark colour: for so generally were its known
descendants; and so also was apparently the still re-
maining hair upon a very perfect skull of this animal
found in the year 1846 in an Irish bog. This specimen,
which has both the horns themselves, and also a part of
the skin with the hair, attached, seems to show that the
creature had a rough shaggy hide, hke the Highland
kyloes.

But a terrible change came, and Rome, obliged
to withdraw her legions for her own protection,
left her Romano-Celtic subjects to protect themselves
against the devastating raids of the Picts and Scots.
The Britons called to their aid the various Teutonic
tribes, predatory and fierce, who, then inhabiting the
opposite shores of Jutland, Holstein, and Friesland, have

* “Te Bello Gall.,” lib. v., ec. 12, 14.

6 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

since passed by the generic name of English. The ally
became the conqueror, and ruthlessly extirpated the en-
feebled Celts. “‘ Everything Roman, everything Christian,
everything Celtic was the object of their hate;” * “in the
conquered districts the Brit-Welsh (i.e., the Romano
Celts) were either exterminated or enslaved.” ‘‘ The
English invaders came over, with their wives and chil-
dren and household stuff:” nor only with their families
and goods, but, as Mr. Boyd Dawkins has ably shown,
with their cattle also ; and these, supplemented by those
of the Danes who followed, have ever since remained the
cattle of our eastern and northern counties, where the
Continental tribes landed in the greatest numbers. These
were of the Bos urus type, though probably somewhat
crossed. The Bos longifrons, the small Celtic ox, was
driven, with his master the Celt, to remote and inac-
cessible parts which the English could not reach; and
naturalists trace in the Highland kyloe and in the Welsh
cattle (the Pembroke, however, being often excepted)
its descendants. Youatt adds to these the Devon and
the Sussex. In the former case, the deer-like form and
extreme fineness of bone of the Devons; their locality
in the west, where many of the Brit-Welsh found a
refuge ; and the circumstance that a black race of semi-
wild cattle long held its ground in Cornwall, render the
supposition to a certain extent probable. And in the
Sussex cattle a considerable resemblance may be traced
to the Devon; but their greater size and substance, and
stronger, not to say coarser bone, clearly indicate that,
if originally of the same sort, they have been modified
by crosses with a much larger race. This appears to have
been also the case with some of the Devons themselves.
* Boyd Dawkins: “Cave Hunting,” chap. iii., p. 108.

MODERN CELTIC RACES OF CATTLE. 7

The Somersetshire variety is much larger than the North
Devon breed; and the cattle of the South Hams are
larger still, and evidently still more nearly related to
the Sussex: yet they all belong to the same distinctive
class. Differences of pasture and of climate have caused
some divergencies; crossing with other breeds has
perhaps contributed still more to produce them. It
would seem that in North Devon, which the Brit- Welsh
held latest against their English foes, the blood of their
ox, the longifrons, is to be found most—though I think
not altogether—pure ; for it is difficult to believe that so
small and deer-like an animal could, upon cold and sparse
pastures, with an inclement climate, and with very
ordinary attention from man, as was for ages the case,
have grown into the small, yet larger, North Devon,
unless it had received some cross. One circumstance
only can I suggest as the cause of the uniformity, vary-
ing as 1t does in some particulars, of the peculiar and
distinctive domestic cattle of the southern counties.
These counties belonged to a different tribe of men from
those who possessed the rest of Britain—namely,
the Belge. ‘They were fresher from the Hast than
the Celts, and, just as the Belgz pressed on the rear
of the Celts as far as the Seine, so they followed
them into Britain and took possession of the “ Pars
maritima,’ or southern counties.* The unsettled con-
dition of the country at the time of Cesar’s invasion
was probably due to the struggle then goimg on
between Celts and Belge. If, like other nomadic
peoples, they brought with them their herds and
flocks, might we not expect to find in these counties,
from Kent to Cornwall, a distinctive breed of cattle?

* Boyd Dawkins: “ Cave Hunting,” chap. vi., p. 224.

8 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Might not even the Southdown sheep have owed its
introduction to this invasion ?

Here leaving for a time the small Celtic dark-
coloured ox (Bos longifrons), domesticated in Brita in
Roman and pre-Roman times, we proceed to consder
the history and the range of the much larger species, the
Bos urus or primigenius. And this is the more impe-
rative because it is quite certain that from this animal
most at least of the ancient British herds of white
cattle, whether wild or domesticated, derive their origin.
For the Chillingham herd is undoubtedly one of the
oldest and the finest of our ancient white wild herds,
yet only slightly varying from others; and Professor
Riitimeyer, to whom Lord Tankerville sent a skull and
various other parts of the skeleton, and who examined
most carefully these remains, not only informed Mr.
Darwin “that the Chillingham cattle are less altered
from the true Primigenius type than any other known
breed,” * but has published the same opinion in even yet
stronger terms. Mr. Boyd Dawkins, too, who considers
that cattle of the Urus type were re-introduced into
Britain by the English subsequently to their first mva-
sion in a.p. 449 (which is certainly true of their
domesticated breeds), also believes that the Chilingham
cattle are of this type, though doubting whether they
have not since become feral.

A succinct account of the word Urus, by which this
large species of Bos was known to ancient writers, 1s
given by Professor Low in his “ Domesticated Animals.”
He says: ‘‘ This animal was termed Urochs by the older
Germans, a word which is derived from Ur, a root

* © Animals and Plants,” vol. i., chap. iii., p. 81.
+ “Cave Hunting,” chap. ili., pp. 77, 79, 90.

THE URUS AND BISON DISTINCT. 9

common to many languages,” the meaning of which is
somewhat variously given. “The Greek and Roman
writers employed the term Urus, either borrowed from
the Teutonic or derived from the same root Ur, which
entered into the composition of their own Tadpos and
Taurus. From the same source are derived the Shur
and Tur of the Hebrew and other languages of the Hast;
and hence, too, the Thur of the Poles, the Tyr, Tyer,
Stier, Steer, in the dialects of Northern Europe ;” and,
according to Mr. Boyd Dawkins,* the same root occurs
in the name of the gigantic ox of the table-land of
Central India—the Gaur, Bos Gaurus. The names of
various countries and places are said to be also derived
from the same root; while in the Runic alphabet of the
Anglo-Saxons, corresponding in a great measure to the
Scandinavian and the German, words (as among the
Hebrews, Greeks, &c.) being used to express letters, as
Hiagl (Hail) for H., Nead (Need) for N., the letter U
is represented by Ur (Urus, or Wild Ox).f

A considerable amount of trouble has been created
in all ages by various writers confusing the Urus with
the Bison, a contemporary animal, from which it is
“easily differentiated by various anatomical characters.’ {
This confusion has been increased by the similar
Teutonic names given to each: the Urochs and the
Aurochs. Yet the two are specifically distinct, and
will not breed together; and while it is clear that
domestic cattle have in every age sprung from the
Urus, the Bison has never been subjugated by man. It
only now exists in Hurope in a forest of Lithuania, where

* See Mr. Dawkins’ paper on “ British Fossil Oxen,” Quarterly Journal
Geol. Soc. London, vol. xxii., 1866.

+ Tylor’s ‘‘ Early History of Mankind,” p. 103.

¢ See Mr. Dawkins’ paper as above.

10 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

it is protected by the Russian Government. A similar
confusion has often arisen between the Urus and the
Buffalo (Bos éubalus), which was introduced into Europe
as a beast of burden from the East. It seems, too, a
pity that some modern naturalists have given to the
Gos urus the designation of Bos primigenius, thereby
causing unnecessary difficulty to those unacquainted
with the subject, by altering the name by which he
was known to ancient, medieval, and many modern
writers.

However and whenever the Urus was first introduced
to Hurope—a question outside the scope of this work—
in the Pleistocene age it was everywhere abundant as a
wild animal, both on the Continent and in the British
Isles; and in later, though pre-historic times, it still
existed in both—as its fossil remains everywhere testify—
though perhaps more sparingly in Britain. And what-
ever may be the case in this country, where authentic
history began at a much later period than it did in the
Kast and in Southern Europe, on the Continent the
Urus was well known during the historic era. Every-
where through what may be called Central Europe we
find this gigantic ox wild. Mount Hzmus, the Car-
pathians running through the middle of Hurope, and
the Hyrcinian Forest, stretching from these almost
through Germany, and connecting them with other
mountain ranges, were his favourite haunts; from
Scythia, Sarmatia, and the Black Sea, to Denmark and
the shores of the Northern Ocean, everywhere we find
him. During the later stone age, in the shell-mounds
or kjokken-méddinger (kitchen - middens), consisting
chiefly of immense heaps of refuse shells, left on the
shores of nearly all the Danish islands by the Danish

PRE-HISTORIC TRACES OF THE URUS. 11

aborigines, “the remains of the wild bull (Bos urus,
Linn.; Bos primigenius, Bojanus)” are found, “in such
numbers as to prove that the species was a favourite
food of that ancient people.” ‘ Professor Riitimeyer, of
Basle, has shown that among the remains of wild
animals dredged up from the ancient Swiss lake dwell-
ings, built on piles in the shallow parts of many Swiss
lakes, there are those of the wild bull.” It is also
“beyond question that, towards the close of the stone
and beginning of the bronze period, the lake dwellers
had succeeded in taming that formidable brute, the Bos
primigenius, the Urus of Cesar.” “In a tame state
its bones were somewhat less massive and heavy, and
its horns somewhat smaller than in wild individuals.
Still, in its domesticated form, it rivalled in dimensions
the largest living cattle, those of Friesland in North
Holland, for example. When most abundant it had
nearly superseded the smaller race.”* My readers
will not fail to observe the speedy change which
im some respects was produced in the wild bull by
domestication.

When we advance further, and come to historic
times, we find frequent notices of the Urus, or wild
bull. Herodotus, writing about 400 B.c., tells us that
when the army of Xerxes was passing through a part
of Pzonia and Crestonia, which lay between Southern
Thrace and Macedonia, and indeed formed part of the
latter, the country abounded with wild bulls; which
must have been animals of great power, for the same
country was infested by lions so ferocious that they

* The above quotations are all taken from Sir C. Lyell’s “ Antiquity
of Man,” 4th edition, 1873, chap. ii., where will be found fuller in-
formation on this interesting subject.

12 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

attacked at night the camels carrying the provisions of
the army.* And these wild bulls could not have been
Bisons, but must have been Uri, the extraordinary size
of their horns being clearly distinctive of the Urus;
for these, Herodotus says, were so large that they were
in consequence exported to Hellas (Greece). The
existence of these wild bulls is confirmed by Hippo-
crates, a writer who shortly followed; and, subsequently,
Philip of Macedon is said to have hunted and
destroyed on Mount Orbela, in consequence of its
devastations, a beast of this description, and to have
hung up its spoils in the vestibule of the temple of
Hercules. During the time of the Roman Empire,
which extended itself to the barbarous regions north of
Italy and Greece, (these barbarous regions being the
native country of the Urus on the Continent), this
animal was well known, and is mentioned by various
Latin writers too numerous to quote. Some of these,
like Martial, called him, through ignorance, the Bubalus,
or the Bison, when they really meant the Urus.
Others better informed, like Seneca, distinguished these
cattle from others, and gave them their proper name
of Uri:—

“Tibi dant varie pectora tigres,

Tibi villosi terga bisontes,

Latisque feri cornibus uri.”

But perhaps the best descriptions of the wild Urus
are those given by Pliny and by Cesar. Pliny says:
“Germany, coterminous with Scythia, produces two
kinds of wild cattle: one, the Bison, distinguished by
his mane; the other, of excessive strength and swift-

* Herodotus, lib. vii., ¢. 124-6. See also Professor Rawlinson’s
“Herod.” vol. iv., p. 102, 3.

HISTORICAL NOTICES. 13

ness, the Urus, to which the ignorant vulgar give the
name of Bubalus.” And he says that ‘‘ both of these
animals were carried to Rome, and viewed by the people
in the circus.” Still more explicit is the earlier account
of Cesar, when describing the wild beasts of the
Hyrcinian Forest, which then covered a large part of
Germany, and connected the Gallic forests with those of
the Carpathians and of Scythia. “The third kind of
wild beasts is the one they call the Urus. Of such
great size as to be little inferior to elephants, in general
appearance, colour, and form they are bulls. Great is
their strength, and great their swiftness; and they
spare neither man nor wild beast that comes within
their view. The Germans take and kill them in pitfalls,
made with great care and trouble. Their young men
inure themselves to this labour, and exercise themselves
in this kind of hunting, and they who have killed the
most, publicly produce the horns in testimony of their
exploits, and receive great praise. But it is impos-
sible to accustom them to men and to tame them; and
to this even the very young ones are no exception.
The great size, form, and beauty of their horns make
them differ much from the horns of our oxen: these
they collect with great care, and, surrounding the
margin of them with silver, use them as cups at their
largest banquets.”

It is rather singular that both Cesar and Pliny use
the same words to characterise the Urus—“ wis et velo-
citas”’: strength and swiftness—and that they both use
adjectives which intensify the expression. Cvsar’s
description has generally been accepted as the best ever
given, and it accords entirely with all others which have
any pretence to be authentic, except perhaps in one

14 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

respect. It is not likely that the adult Urus of the
Hyrcinian Forest would submit to be tamed ; but so far
as I am aware, there are none of the Taurine group
which may not with care and attention be subjugated
when young; and this, as regards the Urus itself, the
history of domestic cattle seems to show. It appears
therefore pretty clear that on this poimt Czsar, who
could never have tried the experiment himself, must
have been mistaken; as he certainly was in some more
than doubtful statements which he made, possibly on
hearsay evidence, with regard to other beasts in this
same forest, supposed to be the Reindeer and the Elk.

In the troubled ages which accompanied and followed
the decline and fall of the Roman Empire the Urus still
held his ground, though in decreasing numbers, as a
wild animal on the Continent of Europe. The martyr
Saturninus was attached to the horns of a wild bull and
dragged to death at Toulouse, on the spot where after-
wards one of the most ancient churches of Gaul was
built, named du Taur. It is said that the Spanish bull-
fights took their rise from the chase of this animal in
the Pyrenees. The Urus is also mentioned as existing
in the Vosges mountains, and in the Ardennes, and it
was hunted by Charles the Great near Aachen.* It is
spoken of in the Medbelungen Ined, where it is said about
a hunting match in the woods near Worms—

‘¢ Dar nach schluch er schiere einen Wizent und einen Lich,
Starcher Ure viere, und einen grimmen Schelch.”

“ After this he slew straight a Bison and an Elk,
Of the strong Uri four, and a fierce Schelch.” *

Still through the medieval period the Bos urus lived,

* Aix-la-Chapelle. { The meaning of this word seems uncertain.

EXTINCTION OF THE WILD BULL. 15

but within much circumscribed limits—principally in
Poland, Lithuania, and Muscovy, whose writers speak
of it—till in the fifteenth or sixteenth century the wild
bull became finally extinct in continental Europe.

Having thus traced the Bos urus from early his-
torical times throughout its European career, with the
exception of Britain, I propose in the following chapter
to make some remarks upon certain domestic races, its
acknowledged or supposed descendants, with the view of
ascertaining whether any and what resemblances, espe-
cially of colour and character, exist between them and
our own White Herds, traditionally believed to be also
descended from it.

CHAPTER II.

Allied Races of White Cattle—Prejudice against White unfounded—Antiquity
of the Celour— White preferred for religious Ceremonies and Festivals—
White Cattle imported for such Purposes from the native Country of the
Urus—No Authority for the Opinion that the Urus was Black—The Augs-
burg Picture —Apparent Connection between the Urus and various domestic
Races of White Cattle—The Charolais Breed—The Friesland Ox—Holstein
Cattle—Hungarian—Transylvanian—Cattle of the Russian Steppes— British
Wild Cattle similar in all important Characteristics—All probably descended
from the ancient Urus.

In entering upon the subject of white in cattle, espe-
cially as regards domestic races, I am quite aware
that I expose myself to many adverse opinions, for on
this point “quot homines, tot sententie;” but it is a
subject into which I am compelled to enter, for its
colour has always been the prime distinguishing
characteristic of the white forest breed of Great Britain.
That colour, retained universally, and for so long a time,
plainly imdicates its antiquity, and may perhaps give
some clue to its origin. I fear I shall shock the
breeder, English, Scottish, or Welsh; for he for ages has
been endeavouring to eradicate white, and to breed his
cattle black, red, or only with so little white as may be
necessary to produce a white face, or a body slightly
flecked with this colour. From the Land’s End to John
o Groat’s, from Yarmouth to Haverfordwest—and you
may cross over the Channel, and take Ireland too—the
white cow is despised, and charged with delicacy; yet
here are these ancient British herds—some wild, some

ORIGIN OF WHITE IN CATTLE. 17

domesticated—exposed to many hardships and vicissi-
tudes of cold and tempestuous climates, but all hard as
iron, vigorous, and—white.

Some critics may object that the colours of animals
are subject to great. alterations when they are tamed
and subdued by man, and may conclude from analogy
that, as in the case of the dog, the cat, the pig, the
rabbit, and others, the white cow is the product of
domestication. It may indeed be so, but it would be
dangerous to assume that the laws which affect certain
domestic animals apply with equal force to all; that the
ox, for example, becomes subject to the same modifica-
tions of structure and the same variations of colour as
the rabbit. And besides, it should be remembered that
white, or colours closely approximating thereto, are the
natural colours of many wild animals. Mr. Darwin,
writing on this particular subject, concludes that facts
“show that there is a strong, though not invariable,
tendency in wild or escaped cattle, under widely different
conditions of life, to become white, with coloured ears; ”’*
and he enumerates various examples upon which he
founds that opinion. If it is a correct one it would
seem to follow, that the British wild cattle, now kept in
parks, but formerly ranging unconfined over extensive
districts, are either the aboriginal descendants of the
wild animal, which have never been subdued by man; or
that, once domesticated, they have long since become
feral, reverted to the primitive type, and recovered the
colour of the original wild ancestor. In either case it
would seem that the wild race from which they are
derived must have been also white.

* « Animals and Plants,” vol. i., chap. ili, p. 85.
C

18 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Considering that there were formerly in this country
numerous domestic herds of white cattle, dating their ex-
istence from very early times, and distinct from, yet nearly
related to, those which were completely wild, the pre-
dilection of the ancients for white cattle seems a curious
coincidence. Everywhere these seem to have been con-
sidered the most select, andin all ages the most valuable
as sacrificial offerings on the altars of the gods. Among
the ancient Egyptians, though Apis himself, their bull-
god, was, it seems, principally black, yet it appears from
Herodotus that the sacrificial cattle were obliged to be
of the purest white. When a bull was made sacred, so
that he might be offered to EKpaphus or Apis, “a priest
was appointed to examine the animal, both when it was
standing up, and when it was cast. If he found a
single black hair upon it he pronounced it to be un-
clean.” * It appears from “‘ Jesse’s Natural History ”
that the descendants of these cattle, a large, handsome
white breed, still remain in Egypt. In India, which for
thousands of years has preserved unaltered its religion,
traditions, and habits, even now the white Brahmin bull,
dedicated to Siva, roams at large protected from all
injury ; and while the white elephant is the pride of the
native princes in great state ceremonies, “the elegant
carriages of the ladies of the court, covered with light
gilded domes, from which hang silken curtains, pass
along, drawn by white oxen,’’f as they did in ages long
since past. In Persia there were, we are told, a fine and

* Herodotus, lib. ii., e.38. Professor Rawlinson’s “ Herod.,” vol. ii., p.
68. [In a note on this which Mr. Storer had probably not seen, Professor
Rawlinson gives it as his opinion that white was regarded as equally
objectionable with black. He considers that the colour of this sacred

bull was red.— ED. ]
+ “India and its Native Princes,” by Louis Bous.

ANCIENT VALUE OF WHITH CATTLE. 19

valued race of ancient white oxen; and so devoted were
the ancient Persians to the colour that the “sacred
horses of the sun” were white.

In countries far remote from the Hast, but deriving
their religion and many of their customs thence,
white cattle were highly valued. Even in Britain
(and this is a striking fact in the history of our
white herds), the white bull was the sacred victim in
one of the greatest religious ceremonies practised here
before the Roman conquest. Pliny tells us “that when
that rare event occurred, the finding of the sacred
mistletoe growing on the oak, the great festival began by
bringing up to the tree’ which bore it two bulls of a
white colour, which had never before been bound. The
chief priest, clothed in a white raiment, then ascended
the tree, and cut off with a golden knife the sacred
treasure. It was received in a white cloth, and then the
victims ready prepared below, the white bulls, were
immolated with prayers to the Deity that he would
make this, his own gift to the people, most prosperous.”

But if such was the value attached to the white ox
by ancient nations, we might expect to hear more about
him in the histories of countries then more central, and
with which we are better acquainted, such as Greece and
Rome. This is the case. It would be an unnecessary
labour to fill these pages with too numerous quotations,
but some references will be interesting. Varro tells
us that the most usual colour among the cattle of
Italy was black, then red, then dun or tawny
(helvus), and the scarcest white, and he describes their
several characteristics. He attributes the comparative
scarcity of the white, which were evidently the most
esteemed, to the great demand there was for them as

c 2

oo

20 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

victims for altars of the gods; for the Romans sacrificed
white cattle to the celestial, black to the infernal deities,
and the former were used also, as in the Hast, to adorn
state: processions and triumphs. Instances of both may
be seen in Virgil. Aineas, prior to his descent into
Tartarus, was recommended by the Sibyl to sacrifice
black cattle to Hecate as an expiatory act—

“‘Duc nigras pecudes: ea prima piacula sunto.”

And accordingly he sacrificed four black bullocks, a black
lamb, and a cow to her, and others of the infernal
powers; while in the “ Georgics” Virgil indicates as
plainly the value of the celebrated white herds of
Clitumnus for sacrifices to the gods, and for the Roman
triumphs.
“ Hine albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus
Victima, seepe, tuo perfuti flumine sacro,
Romanos ad templa Deim duxére triumphos.”
Even the bull among the signs of the zodiac is de-
scribed by the same poet as of the favoured and honoured
colour, “ white, with gilded horns.”

“‘ Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum
Taurus.”

But the great demand caused a scarcity, and Italy
was unable to supply with white cattle to the extent
required for sacrificial and other purposes, a city so
opulent, so all-powerful, and so populous as ancient
Rome. Importation had to be resorted to, and the coun-
tries to which the Romans went to obtain these white
cattle were Epirus, Thrace, and the neighbourhood of
the Black Sea—the native country of the Urus, the very
localities in which Herodotus had described the wild
bull as so abundant, and where Philip of Macedonia had

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OXEN.

MOLDAVIAN

ROMAN IMPORTS OF WHITE CATTLE. 23

slain him. In these countries, Varro tells us—and
the circumstance is remarkable—there were few of any
colour but white; and these, too, like the Italian white
cattle, were the largest and the best, and must have
been of the Urus type. ‘The white cattle of Epirus
were better than any others in Italy, as well as Greece,
and more suitable for divine rites, on account of the

PICTURE FROM POMPEII.

dignity they derived from their majestic size and
colour.

The similarity of colour, and resemblance in other
respects, between these ancient races and our own forest
breed, both believed to be descended from the same
source—the wild Urus—is very remarkable, and bears,
it appears to me, most strongly upon the question
of the colour of that animal. And as the poet tells
us that the eye conveys to the mind a much stronger
impression than does the ear, I request the reader to
compare the engraving of the oxen of Moldavia of
the present day, drawing the basket-wagon of the

24 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

country, with a picture of white cattle pursued by a
lion, taken from a picture on the walls of Pompeii. Both
are authentic; for the first is copied from Messrs. Moll and
Gayot’s celebrated work on European cattle; the other,
sent to me from Naples by a friend, was taken from the
original by a celebrated Neapolitan photographer. Mol-
davia, which was formerly part of ancient Scythia, has
preserved to a great extent unaltered the character of
its old domestic race of the Urus type, and we can
scarcely fail to recognise the similarity of these to
those shown in the Pompeian picture of many hundred
years before, and the striking resemblance of both to the
pictures of our wild cattle yet retained in the Park at
Chillingham.

Yet one word more on the Pompeian picture. It
may represent the imported domestic cattle which
the Romans received from Epirus and Thrace, and from
the countries contiguous to the present Moldavia; but
it is quite possible, that this ancient picture por-
trays the pursuit of the wild Urus himself by the
lion. In either case, but especially in the latter, it
would seem to furnish a strong clue towards the deter-
mination of the question, what was the colour of the
ancient Bos urus? My own opinion is that he was
either white, or of a pale colour approaching to white.
In this respect I unfortunately differ from a great
authority, Professor Nilsson, who in his description
of this animal says, “According to all accounts the
colour of this ox was black.” I wish I knew what the
accounts here alluded to are. The Professor, however,
is said to have considered as of some authority an
engraving, supposed to be of the Bos wrus, given in
volume iv., page 411, of Griffith’s admirable “ Animal

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(From Griffith.)

SUPPOSED “BOS URUS.”

COLOUR OF THE URUS. 27

Kingdom” (an English elaboration of Cuvier’s “ Régne
Animal”), copied from an old painting found in the
hands of a dealer at Augsburg. The finder, it is pre-
sumed, was Major Charles Hamilton Smith, one of Mr.
Griffith’s associates in bringing out the work, who con-
tributed this account; he represents the picture as being
“an old painting on panel of indifferent merit, which,
judging from the style of drawing, &c., may date from
the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In the
corner were the remains of armorial bearings, and the
word Zhur in golden German characters nearly effaced.”
The colour of the dewlap, at least, was ‘sooty black ;”’
it does not quite appear from the description whether
the whole animal was represented as of this colour, but
in the coloured engraving given this bull is of a tawny
hight black, which might even be called brown. On the
legs the colour is a ight brown ; on the lower parts of
them very light brown; the horns strong, and of con-
siderable length, white with black tips; the chin and
lower lip white, the only part of the body which is so.
I cannot think that much can be built upon a
picture like this, of uncertain origin and date, and
with the name in the corner half effaced. Granting,
however, that it was correctly read, it seems to be
rather a Polish word than a German one; and as-
suming that the supposed date of the picture is a
correct one—a circumstance which does not admit of
proof—it must be remembered that this picture was
taken at a time when the Bos urus was, if not ab-
solutely extinct, on the very verge of extinction in
Germany. In Poland and some neighbouring countries
it seems that it may have lingered a little longer.
Under such circumstances its continued existence would

28 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

perhaps be due to the care of man, as has been the case
with this species latterly in the English parks, and with
the Bison in Lithuania; and if so, the preservation of
any particular variety would be possible by selection.
Many herds of English white cattle produce, occasion-
ally, calves either wholly black, or exhibiting a tendency
in that direction, and this seems to be a characteristic
of the species. Such a variety, once introduced, might
easily have been propagated, had it appeared desirable
to do so, long since in England, and may have been
actually so propagated abroad. If, then, this is a picture
of the wild bull at all, my idea is that it represents a
particular variety, at a time when the extinction of the
wild parent stock was near at hand. As an illustration
of form, but not of colour, I give a copy, taken from
Griffith’s work, of the Augsburg picture. As in-
dicative of the original colour of the Bos urus, I think
the copy of the Pompeian picture much more to be
depended upon.

This view is to a certain extent confirmed by
Professor Low, who, speaking of the English forest
breed, says: ‘‘Under other conditions of tempera-
ture and food, the colour of the same variety might
become black, with a peculiar marking equally constant.
An ancient writer, speaking of Uri in the woods of
Poland, describes them as ‘black, with a white streak
along the chine.’” Possibly the Augsburg bull was of
this variety ; but it is remarkable that it differs much
in form and structure, as well as in colour, from any
known race of the Urus type. If it is a variety of the
Bos urus, I consider it an exception to the rule. I
think it quite certain that wherever throughout Europe
domestic cattle of the Urus type remain, acknowledged

MIXTURE OF RACES. 29

as such by naturalists, they universally are either
pure white, or of light colours closely allied to it,
and frequently running imperceptibly into it, such as
a light dove or fawn colour, a light dun, or yellow.
IT am not disposed to deny that black does appear in
some of these cattle; but itis only in certain districts,
and usually in the form of very light pale grey, though
sometimes of much darker shades of that colour. This
is just what my experience of the British white forest
_ breed would lead me to expect. I should suppose that
in certain localities, and under particular circumstances,
some increased tendency to black markings would show
itself; but that this and other secondary colours,
whether arising from an accidental cross or from in-
herent predispositions, would be largely modified and
controlled by the greater prevalence and potency of the
primal white. It is not, however, in Western Con-
tinental Europe that the question can be tested, and
my opinion negatived or confirmed.

Successive warlike tribes, following each other from
the East—Iberians, Celts, Belgze, Teutons, nearly all at
last conquered by the Romans—pushed one another west-
ward till the sea stopped them, and mingled the con-
querors with the conquered. Their various breeds of cattle
were of course mingled also, the imported with the ab-
original; and accordingly we find throughout France, the
greater part of Germany, and all along the shores of the
North Sea an unnumbered and scarcely distinguishable
mass of mixed races, which the experienced agriculturist
finds it most difficult to classify, even for economic pur-
poses, and whose complex and varied origin presents to the
man of science a succession of puzzles which he finds it
impossible to solve. The evil has been greatly increased

30 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

because these countries have been for ages the battle-
field of Europe; their cattle have been devastated by
repeated pestilences, frequently re-imported, and con-
tinually crossed. Itis only in Great Britain and Ireland,
and in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, countries less
affected by these causes—and not always in them—that
the ancient breeds of Western Hurope can now be found
in a state at all approaching to their original purity. I
must, however, make a single exception to this state-
ment. In one of the eastern departments of France—
the Sadne-et-Loire, part of the old Duchy of Burgundy,
and lying at the foot of the Jura and its forests—there
has existed time out of mind a magnificent white race
of the Urus type, the Charolais; one so different from
other French races that it has been supposed to be de-
scended from the Tuscan. For this there exists no
authority, either ancient or modern, and I quite agree
with Messrs. Moll and Gayot in believing that, like the
white cattle of Great Britain, the Charolais are the
descendants of the ancient forest breed, like them white
with black markings. Their excellent qualities have
caused the large extension of the breed in other parts
of France; but for a fuller account of this most valu-
able sort I must refer my readers to the excellent account
of the Charolais race by Monsieur Chamard, given in
Messrs. Moll and Gayot’s work, adding, however—having
seen some of these beautiful animals at the London
Exhibition in 1862—that I fully appreciate his state-
ment that, “as respects rapidity of growth and disposi-
tion to fatten, the Charolais race yields only to the best
types of the Durham breed ; ” and, like the latter, it
has been much cultivated.

There is one animal I wish much we could see in all

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THH FRIESLAND OX. 33

his pristine purity—the Friesland ox, which, large and
grand, naturalists admit was of the Urus type, and
retained much of the character of his ancestor. There is
no question this was the case, for Tacitus tells us * that,
A.D. 28, Drusus, the father of Germanicus, imposed a tax
of hides of oxen upon the Frisians (who, very little more
than 400 years later, mvaded England under the name
of Anglo-Saxons), “ which his leutenant, Olennius, re-
quired should come up to the standard of certain ferga
urorum (skins of the Urus), which he picked out for the
purpose.” ‘Tacitus implies that this was a difficult
matter, and very burdensome to the Frisians, but the
passage clearly shows that the Friesland cattle were
then of great size, and approximating in that respect to
the Urus. Large numbers of them were no doubt de-
ported when their proprietors first invaded and then
settled in Britain. Still the Friesland ox remained in
something like its former state, till, during the last
century and the early years of the present, the original
type became rare and was finally extinguished.
Messrs. Moll and Gayot t+ class the present Friesland
cattle as a mere sub-variety of the Holland or Dutch
breed. They tell us that, both in Fresland and in
the neighbouring country of Oldenburg, “the ancient
Friesland race has succumbed under the blows of re-
peated crossings following the great epidemics of the
end of the last or beginning of this century, and
though it still preserves exclusively the name, it is
in reality much more Dutch than Friesland.” The
new stock has indeed some peculiarities of size, form,
and colour; it has, however, no ‘“ homogeneity,” but
* “ Annals,” lib. iv., e. 72.
+ “La Connaissance du Beuf,” p. 488: Paris, 1860.
D

34 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

the “confusion is only temporary; it advances rapidly
to the desired point, for, in spite of the mixture of its
colours, the pied-black is already the one most extended,
-as with all races or sub-races which derive from the
Dutch breed.”

To other parts of the same coast the same remarks
apply with more or less stringency. ‘The Holstein cattle
are, like those of Friesland, considerably mixed, though
at present somewhat more pure. Both countries supply
from their splendid pastures many fine animals for the
butcher; neither can claim for their oxen descent from
the Urus unaccompanied by much extraneous admixture.
Nor, when we come to examine what we may call the
mother-race of these western coasts, the Holland or
Dutch breed, an excellent race of cattle which has
largely spread through both Germany and France, do
we find the true characteristics of the Urus strongly
marked. They are indeed what they are required to be,
great milkers; and they retain partially those feeding
qualities which possibly their predecessors inherited
much more largely. They are for the most part black
and white—‘ La race Hollandaise se présente sous une
robe bigarrée de noir et de blanc.” But I have reason
to believe that in the course of two or three centuries
the character of the Dutch breed, like that of Friesland,
has been completely changed. I have carefully ex-
amined, and taken notes of, the pictures containing cattle
—and they are numerous—of the old Dutch and Flemish
masters in two celebrated collections in this country,
and my conclusions are confirmed by those who have
examined them elsewhere. If any credence is to be
given to the pictures of Paul Potter, Rubens, Berghem,
Cuyp, Teniers, Vandevelde, &c., the Dutch cow of

DUTCH CATILE. 30

from 200 to 300 years since was totally different, both |
in colour and in form, from what she is now. ‘The
black cow is very rare in these pictures, and I have
never met with an instance of black-and-white ; mouse-
coloured ones are not uncommon, neither are white ones
with red ears, and sometimes with spotted necks or
bodies ; reds of different shades, and the greater number
of light tints, are the most common, sometimes self-
coloured, sometimes with the face or some other part
white. You may find among them many a striking
likeness of the old Yorkshire or Holderness cow; some,
even, which might be taken for the improved Durham ;
some which have a strong similarity to the Hereford ;
but nowhere any much resembling the present Dutch
cattle. Paul Potter's celebrated bull at the Hague is a
pregnant instance; it is the exact counterpart of the
bulls I remember turned out upon the commons in some
of our eastern counties; and I have a strong impression
that the Yorkshire cow or the Lincoln bullock is the
nearest living type of the old Dutch cow or the ancient
Friesland ox.

The causes for such changes in Holland were pro-
bably similar to those te which MM. Moll and Gayot
attribute them in Friesland—numerous crosses and
frequent importations, consequent upon destructive wars
and pestilences. At the latter end of the year 1714, the
great murrain, which then devastated Europe, reached
Holland, and there “at least two hundred thousand
cattle perished.” “In 1745 it laid Holland waste a
second time. More than two hundred thousand cattle
now perished.” No doubt with the importation of
other sorts fashion has also changed, and contributed
towards the difference; yet even now Nature, though

D2

36 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

expelled so long, makes some feeble efforts towards the
production of the original colours, for Professor Wright-
son, in his account of the Vienna Exhibition of 1873,
tells us that ‘‘about ninety per cent. of this race are
black-and-white, five per cent. are grey-and-white, and
five per cent. are red, or red-and-white. A mixed pepper-
and-salt, or black-and-white roan is also sometimes
noticeable.”

I perhaps have made a longer digression than to
many will seem desirable, but in taking this brief survey
of the Continental cattle ancient and modern, I wished
to shadow out the great fact that those which are with
the least modifications descended from the ancient Urus,
present also in form and colour the most remarkable
likeness to our own white forest breed. I could not
therefore fairly pass over the cattle of Western Kurope.
From its shores came long since our own domestic
breed of the Urus type; and I therefore felt compelled
to state my reasons for believing that neither in Holland,
nor in Friesland, nor in Holstein, is the race of cattle so
pure and so original as it was 200 or 300 years since.
In its present altered state, very small are the conclu-
sions to be drawn from it as respects those English
breeds which anciently came from thence; while still
more feeble is any evidence it can give respecting the
character and colour of the ancient Urus.

I pass over, then, with these few remarks, the
useful herds, so valuable for numerous economic pur-
poses, of Western Continental Europe. Many of these
have undoubtedly derived some of their excellent
qualities from containing a certain amount of the blood
of the wild bull; but except the Charolais, and per-
haps one or two other races which much more slightly

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HUNGARIAN CATTLE. 39

give indications of having in part retained his blood,
Western Europe presents, for reasons I have given,
no indications of the objects of my search—the Urus
type and character. So we travel eastward, to the
countries surrounding the Carpathians and the Danube,
and thence on to the steppes of Southern Russia, native
haunts of the wild bull in the days when ancient Scythia
and Germany both possessed it, and when, according to
Pliny, these countries were “ coterminous” with each
other. Here ancient forms, habits, and characters are
more strongly fixed, and there have been for long ages
but small changes in the types of either men or animals.
In all these regions we find the domesticated or semi-
domesticated ox of the Urus kind retaining much of its
ancient form and colour, as we have seen in the picture
of the Moldavian ox-team previously given. In some,
indeed, a partial mixture with other races has produced
what may be called a variety; but two great parent
races, which have largely contributed to preserve the
neighbouring ones, yet remain in unsullied purity.
These are the Hungarian Race, and the Race of
the Steppes of Russia. I take the Hungarian race
first. .

“In Hungary,’ says M. Gayot, ‘the forces of
nature have not yet been turned out of their course by
the action of man. ‘To this circumstance that country
owes the preservation of a race of large cattle, highly
characteristic, constant in type, and so distinctive
[accentuc |, that they have been habitually considered
the prototype of the species, as the head or mother-race
of all others.”

This magnificent race inhabits the great plain of
Hungary, which, consisting of excellent land, though

40 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

some of it is quite uncultivated, and all of it unenclosed,
extends from the Danube to the Carpathians. It is
superbly watered by that river, and by the Theiss, the
Save, the Drave, and their tributaries. An immense
plain, it rises upwards from the Danube, by degrees, into
more hilly and mountainous regions of considerable
extent, clothed with a great amount of ancient forest as
it approaches its northern and western boundary, the
Carpathian mountains; and in the year 1870 it con-
tained more than fifteen millions of cattle, almost all
of the same type.

The characteristics of this grand race are uniform.
For, though divided into two branches, they are con-
sidered both equally pure. In the first the coat is
perfectly white, and this colour is generally preferred ;
in the second, the white is tinted in certain parts of the
body with grey, or ash-grey. In other respects these
two varieties are identical, and the difference has been
maintained only by selection. Count Osaky took great
pains to perfect the white race, and his breed is generally
known by his name or by that of his place, Kaormaosd,
in the county of Bihar; the grey breed is often called
Kis-jenoc, from a domain of that name in the county of
Arad, where 1t was much cultivated. ‘The finest race
of Hungarian cattle now to be seen is at the Imperial
estate of Merohegyes, in Lower Hungary, where a fine
breeding herd of the Osaky kind is maintained. Splendid
cattle are also to be seen on the shores of the Platten
See, upon the estates of Count Festetics.”

“The Hungarian ox is undoubtedly unrivalled for
hardihood, speed, strength, and durability. He is
capable of subsisting and working upon a worse quality
of fodder than any other race. Poor pasturage in

HUNGARIAN CATTLE. 41

summer, and Indian corn straw, with a little barley-
straw, and hay, in the winter, are all that he requires;
and no corn or artificial food is added, except for a short
time in spring, during the sowing season.” ‘The beef
of these cattle is of the finest flavour and of the richest
quality ; and they have a great tendency to fatten and
to lay on meat; but the chief fault found with them 1S
that they are indifferent milkers. Yet their milking
qualities, when cultivated, increase, and many neigh-
bouring counties have cattle largely impregnated with
the Hungarian blood, which are capital at the pail.
What, indeed, can you expect from a semi-wild beast,
in which generally, like our own park cattle, whose
cousins they are, the cow rears her own calf till Nature
stops the supply of milk? Hear the statement of Pro-
fessor Wrightson on this point :—

“The cows are seldom abundant milkers, but the
milk is of rich quality. They milk for eight months,
and are dry for four months. The Guw/ya, or herd,
roams on the wooded pastures on the banks of the
Danube, or on the extensive plains where the land is
still im the condition of pasture. ‘The cows calve from
January to July, and hide their offspring for five or six
weeks in the woods among bushes, or in some secluded
place. The young calf is of dark tawny or fawn colour
at first, but gradually changes to a grey creamy colour,
and finally to the shaded white peculiar to the race.
Each herd is constantly attended—for here there are
no fences—by their Gulyas (pronounced Goolyash), or
herdsmen. The cows drop their first calf at about four
years old. The herds are in the woods and pastures
summer and winter, and may be almost spoken of as
wild. Itis not safe for a stranger to approach them,

42 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

and such a proceeding would be very rash without the
protection of the Gulyas.”

Such is the statement of Professor Wrightson, who
carefully examined the Hungarian cattle at the Vienna
Exhibition in 1873, and subsequently in Hungary, on
their native pastures. When we read that description,
and remember the wonderful likeness of the two breeds,
one might suppose he was describing the Chillingham
or Chartley herds. But though that is an illusion, it
is strengthened by what follows, taken from MM. Moll
and Gayot :—“ A certain air of nobility, a very striking
aspect, are shown in the whole of its structure, and
each movement displays vigour and activity. In the
lofty carriage of its head, in its proud shape, in its look
so open and full of courage, we see clearly that the
Hungarian cattle descend from the ancient race which
inhabited these plains, whose extent no eye can embrace.
Nor do they only descend from that race; they are
themselves, above all, the continuation of it.”

And then they quote the similar opinion of Dr.
Hlubeck, expressed in these terms:—‘ The peculiar
physiognomy of the Hungarian race, the nobility of its
look, its shy disposition, the length and width of its
horns, the height of its legs, the elegant structure of
its body, the nimbleness and swiftness of its move-
ments, its extraordinary rusticity [rusticité], the medio-
crity of its milking powers, the short time it gives
milk, the fineness of its muscular organisation, the
little thickness yet density of its hide, the colour of its
hair, constitute so many characteristic signs, which
will not allow us to disregard the powerful influence
of Nature, and her persistent and unmodified action.”

Into Professor Wrightson’s full descriptions and

HUNGARIAN CATTLE. 43,

measurements of these fine cattle when he saw them at
the Vienna Exhibition, space forbids me to enter. I
may, however, say that after stating that “ Naturalists
agree in considering the Hungarian ox as the best
living representative of one at least of the original
progenitors of our. domestic type, the Bos primigenius,
still existing in a semi-wild state in Chillingham Park,”
he adds, “I had the opportunity of seeing large numbers
of these handsome cattle. They are white, with a
shading of grey on the neck, flanks, and buttocks. The
ear 1s dark-shaded inside; the horns are very long and
wide-spreading, and tipped with black; the muzzle,
skin around the eye, the eye itself, and the feet are all
black. An eight-year-old ox exhibited by Neumann, of
Arad (Catal. No. 941), measured 6 ft. 11 in. between the
tips of his horns, and one horn measured 8 ft. 7 in. in
length.” And yet, “Judges did not consider the
Hungarian ox to be well represented at Vienna; and
I,” says the Professor, “certainly saw much finer
examples while travelling through the country.”

Here, then, partially semi-wild, partially domesti-
cated, is the true and unmixed descendant of the Bos
urus of the ancients; barring the slight accident of
semi-domestication, his true and lineal representative,
his successor in form, in colour, and in type; inhabiting
unchanged the scarcely altered plains and forests where
his great ancestor lived thousands of years ago. We
may have seemed to wander far, but we have come back
to our own subject at last, and we tell our reader, as
Professor Wrightson told his, that “he must endeavour
to picture the majestic Hungarian ox as a larger type of
the wild cattle of Chillingham Park.”

The Transylvanian ox is a mere variety of the

A4 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Hungarian race, with more spreading horns. The
difference is not greater than there is between our
Chillingham and Chartley varieties of wild cattle, and
the two families, when blended together, produce an
extraordinarily good animal. Most of the races of the
neighbouring countries have been strongly imbued with
the Hungarian blood, in all cases with favourable results,
and generally these have a close approximation to the
Hungarian colour. A careful perusal of Professor
Wrightson’s description of the various Styrian breeds,
including the Murzthal, Mariahof, Pinzgau, and Mar-
boden races, will show that they are generally good
milkers and good feeders, and wonderfully inclined to
hght colours, but above all to white, often with black
points. The Professor measured one noble Mariahof ox,
eight years old, whose girth behind the shoulders was
8ft. 9in., and height at the withers 5ft. 8in., and
whose girth, he believed, was greater than any lean ox
he ever heard’ of. The Podolian race, which is distri-
buted over the greater part of Galicia, though shorter
in stature, much resembles the Hungarian, and “ pro-
bably resulted from crossing this animal with an ancient
race indigenous to Galicia,” or it may be more nearly
related to the cattle of the steppes. “The colour is
generally white or silver-grey, with variations passing
into dark grey. Nearly 75 per, cent. of the oxen
slaughtered at Vienna belong to this race. The meat
is very much esteemed, and is distinguished for its
tenderness and agreeable flavour.”

But leaving the Hungarian oxen and their congeners,
and passing over the Carpathians, in whose deep glens
and wild mountain ranges a much smaller cow of the
same type, but crossed with other sorts, adapts itself to

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CATTLE OF THE RUSSIAN STEPPES. 47

its scanty fare, we come to that wonderful country, the
great Russian steppe, the ancient Scythia and Sarmatia.
Here, too, as in Hungary, represented by its modern
semi-wild descendants, the Bos urus still holds its
own ; for the Cow of the Russian Steppes nearly resembles
both in character and in colour the Hungarian breed and
our own white wild forest breed, as may be seen by the
illustration from MM. Moll and Gayot’s work. It was
originally given in the work of M. Demidoff, entitled,
. “ Voyage dans la Russie Méridionale en 1841.” It was
painted from life by Raffet, has been examined by
scientific men, and by veterinary and other Russian
officers, who had occasion to see the cattle of the steppes,
and all have pronounced it very exact.

In that enormous territory there is great uniformity
of colour. The calf, as in Hungary, is of a darker
colour than its parents; but as it grows up it assumes
the characteristics of its race, which are light grey,
common grey, dark grey, or mouse-coloured grey. The
darker greys, however, rarely cover the whole animal,
and are seldom seen except upon the neck and shoulders,
the dewlap, and the tip of the tail. White seems to be
the fundamental colour ; cattle housed for a time revert
to it, and those which live out day and night, summer
and winter, on their pastures, as the cattle of these
immense steppes usually do, are a greyish white or a
more ordinary grey. And on the whole M. Spinola
affirms* that “though they present very varied tints,
ranging from dirty white to grey more or less dark, the
white coat seems specially to characterise the animals of
the race of the steppes at an adult age.” And what is

* Moll et Gayot, p. 576.

48 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

true of the cattle of the steppes is true also of those of
the Crimea, of Volhynia, Podolia, Moldavia, Bessarabia,
and Wallachia. In all these extensive regions the cattle
still preserve the grand characteristics of the race of the
steppes, though in some cases slightly modified. Hs-
pecially they retain its ancient colour; and their
likeness to the Chillingham cattle is apparent even to an
ordinary observer. The Special Correspondent of the
Daily News, in an article on “Servia and the War,”
published in that paper July 24th, 1876, remarks :—
“On the Morava valley road [Servia], although we found
no evidences of war, there was more traffic than we had
seen between Belgrade and Semendria. Long strings of
bullock carts were passed or met, drawn by white oxen
with black muzzles, the doubles, in all save ferocity, of
the Chillingham cattle.”

And now let me briefly recapitulate. We have seen
that the most select of the cattle of the ancients, and
those especially which they considered sacred and used
for the sacrifices of the gods, were white. In the best
authenticated instance which remains to us, the Roman
importations from Thrace, I have endeavoured to show
that these white Graeco-Roman cattle, coming from the
country of the Urus, were of the Urus type, and of the
same character and colour as his present descendants in
the same parts. We then sought for traces of the wild
bull among the modern domestic races of Western
Continental Europe.. The search was fruitless; war,
pestilence, repeated crossings, and the admixture of
races had, to a great extent, obliterated his vestiges.
But turning eastwards, we there found numerous half-
wild races, which in the opinion of naturalists, of eco-
nomic writers, and of popular tradition, are of the

WHITE BREEDS PROBABLY ABORIGINAL. 49

ancient type in form, colour, and other characteristics,
and this type, though so peculiar and distinct, still
quite unaltered. We return home, and we find in
the Chillingham, the Chartley, the Hamilton, and in
others of our wild herds, the same colour, the same
peculiarities of markings, the same distinctiveness of
form and points; everything the same, except that ours
(owing to their less free and natural life) are, as Riiti-
meyer after a careful osteological examination has
. remarked, a diminished copy of some of these kindred
races. Surely we have gone far towards showing that
both are aboriginal; in colour, as in other respects,
lineal representatives, as tradition believes them both
to be, of one common ancestor, and that ancestor the
ancient Urus.

CHARTER, iit.

The Urus in Ancient Britain—Fossil Remains found in both the Stone and Bronze
Ages—Likely to survive much later in the North—Early Notices of Wild
Cattle—Such Notices relate to Southern England—Extreme Wildness of the
Northern Mountainous Districts—These Districts the last Home of British
Wild Animals.

Tue question of the origin of the white races of cattle
in Great Britain is much complicated by the circum-
stance that they have existed in this country both as wild
and as domesticated animals, and yet that in all cases
they seem of the same variety. Another difficulty is to
obtain evidence upon the condition of things in remote
times. Ancient historians give no description whatever
of wild cattle, except in a few passing notices: and these,
with few exceptions, are found only in authors who lived
during the latter part of the medieval period. The
same is true to a yet greater extent as respects our
domestic cattle. |

The great question to be decided is, whether the
white herds are to be considered aboriginal, in the usual
sense of the term—that is, whether they originally
came to this country as wild animals, and for all ages
have so continued; or whether they were, generations
ago, introduced by man, many of them having since
become feral.

In one or other of these ways I feel no doubt that

PRE-HISTORIC BRITAIN. 51

they were clearly descended from the Bos primigenius,
or Urus; either by direct descent through wild animals
from the wild bull; or less directly, through domesti-
eated cattle deriving their blood principally from him.
This opinion has been doubted by some eminent men ;
but it has been held by such high authorities as
Riitimeyer, Nilsson, Sir Charles Lyell, Boyd Dawkins,
Darwin, and others; and until a much more full and
complete osteological examination takes place than has
» ever yet been made, I must be content to be led by
these authorities, believing that on this side lies the
great weight of scientific evidence. The strong
resemblance in colour and character which has already
been poimted out of the British white cattle to the
Hungarian race and to that of the steppes of Russia—
undoubted descendants as these are of the wild Urus—
appears also to be a strong point in favour of this view.

When the Pleistocene period had passed, some, but
by no means all, of the large animals which then in-
habited Britain continued to make it still their abode—
less in number, perhaps, and in many cases less in size.
The gigantic elephants, the rhinoceri, and others, with
many of the larger Carnivora, disappeared; the Bos
primigenius, the stag, and others remained, and the
small Bos longifrons everywhere was numerous. Man,
too, had appeared more decisively on the scene ; and the
time arrived which scientific men have named “the pre-
historic age,” to distinguish it, on the one hand, from
the more strictly geological epochs which preceded it,
and on the other from “ the historic age,” the domain of
bona fide history which followed it. In Britain and in
other northern countries, long savage and unknown, the
historic age, of course, began thousands of years later

E 2

52 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

than it did in the East or on the Mediterranean shores,
' and therefore “ the historic age ”’ in this country is held
to commence with the first invasion of Cesar, in the
year 55 B.c. Cvesar’s statements respecting Britain and
its inhabitants were the earliest dawn of British history ;
but his knowledge of the country was at the best im-
perfect, and confined to its southern coasts. It was not
till the year of our Lord 43, when the Romans, under
Aulus Plautius, again invaded and in part conquered it,
that much was known about Britain; but we are
content to take the year 55 B.c., when Cesar first
invaded it, as the commencement of its historic age.

In the meantime, what had become of the ancient Bos
primigenius, or Urus? It existed, we know, in Britain in
pre-historic times. With man of the paleolithic or
Older Stone Age, the Urus was, it will be I think
admitted, contemporaneous. In the fluviatile deposits
of the Thames valley, and in some other places, the
remains of the two have been found together. A friend
of mine* has a fine skull of the Urus, found in Cotten-
ham Fen, the fractured bone of which clearly testifies
that it was destroyed by a human weapon. Other
instances occur in which the remains of the Urus have
been found contemporaneous with man of the neolithic
or Later Stone Age. For one such instance I refer to
the admirable paper of Mr. Carter, in the “ Geological
Society’s Magazine” for November, 1874, on the skull
of the Urus pierced with the neolithic celt, and with the
celt still remaining in the fracture, found in Burwell
Fen, near Cambridge. The evidence of this fact is
overpowering, and the belief in the neolithic character

* The Rey. Samuel Banks, Rector of Cottenham.

REMAINS OF THE URUS. 53

of the weapon is held by numerous and experienced
‘paleontologists who have examined it. The skull of the
Urus has been found in Scotland in a moss, having in
company with it bronze celts, which indicate a still later
period—the Bronze Age. It has been found also in the
“brochs,’ or ‘“ Picts’ houses,’ which are believed to be
of a still less ancient date. It is even said that in one
case it was found pierced by a Roman spear; but no
trouble has been taken to verify or to invalidate such an
all-important fact. Mr. Boyd Dawkins also states, in a
letter to me, dated April, 1875, that he has found two
cases, and two only, in the large accumulations of bones
he has himself examined, of the Urus as existing in
Britain during the pre-historic period: “the one being
presented by those from the neolithic flint-pits - of
Cissbury, and the other by those from a tarn near Bury
St. Edmunds, of the Bronze Age.” Mr. Dawkins adds:
“In both cases the animal was probably wild, and not
domesticated. The Urus was extremely rare in the pre-
historic deposits of Britain.” Both these statements
may be fully admitted. No discoveries have yet been
made which can lead us to suppose that the Urus was
domesticated in Britain in pre-historic times ; while the
Bos longifrons, essentially ‘‘ the Celtic ox,” was every-
where subjugated to and used by man. And it must be
also apparent that if the Urus was then comparatively
rare, even as a wild animal, the proofs we should have
of his existence would also be relatively rare, and of
his being destroyed by man fewer still. It is, perhaps,
wonderful that under these circumstances so much
evidence has been obtained of the existence of the Urus
in Southern Britain during a somewhat late pre-historic
age.

o4 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

I say in Southern Britain ; for it is not there, but in
the extreme North of England and in Scotland, that I
should expect to find the Urus longest holding his own.
And in this opinion both Dr. John Alexander Smith,
Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scot-
land, and Professor Owen concur, one for historical, the
other for osteological reasons, though they neither of
them appear to think that either our domestic or our
wild cattle were derived from this source. Dr. Smith,
in his admirable paper entitled ‘‘ Notes on the Ancient
Cattle of Scotland,’ thus gives his own opinion and
that of Professor Owen * :—

“‘ Here (that is, in Scotland) we have them in close
relation to the bronze weapons of a possibly stall later
age, showing that these animals roamed in our
forests and marshes, and were hunted by the inhabi-
tants of these early times in at least our northern
kingdom of Scotland. Professor Owen says, ‘ From
the very recent character of the osseous substances
in the remains of these cattle, 1t may be concluded
that the Bos primigenius maintained its ground
longest in Scotland before its final extinction.’” Dr.
Smith further on adds: ‘The remains, apparently
allied to the great ox, found in the ruins of human
dwellings of Caithness and Orkney, may perhaps be
considered to bring its existence down to the times
just preceding the invasion of the Norsemen in the
North of Scotland, from about the sixth to the eighth
or ninth centuries.”

The opinion of Dr. Smith, corroborated by that of
Professor Owen, formed on quite different grounds, is, I

* “Proceedings of Soc. of Antiquaries of Scotland,” vol. ix., p. 645
(1873).

LATHER REMAINS IN NORTH BRITAIN. 55

think, conclusive; but perhaps the time he names may
be extended further.

I do not see any evidence to prove that the Bos
urus ceased to exist in Scotland even at the later period
which Dr. Smith has assigned for its extinction. It is,
I suggest, much more probable that it continued to live
many centuries later, in the shape of those noble wild
bulls and cows on which Scotland so much prided
herself, and to whose extended range and remote anti-
quity of origin the oldest traditions of many distant
places and the statements of many old and authentic
writers bear the strongest testimony. So far as they
go, however, these opinions are much in favour of my
argument; and if true, they altogether neutralise the
opinions of some English geologists, who, judging as I
think somewhat too exclusively from the remains found
in the refuse-heaps, caves, and river gravels of Southern
and Central Britain, have come to the conclusion that
the Bos urus became extinct throughout the whole
island in pre-historic times. ‘There seems to be much
probability, though it can scarcely be considered abso-
lutely proved, that such was the case in the southern
parts of Britain; but I think it has yet to be shown
that in the northern parts the same rule prevailed :
especially as I believe that the Caledonian deposits
more particularly—partly, perhaps, from their remote
positions—have in but few instances been examined
with that consummate skill, care, and attention which
southern discoveries have received. Some local anti-
quary—in many cases one imperfectly acquainted with
the subject—often tells us all we know about the former,
while crowds of able and scientific men investigate the
latter.

56 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Having traced so far the Bos primigenius, or Urus,
as he existed in the earliest times in this country, I
will now revert to the White wild forest breed of
cattle, and state what is known respecting their ancient
history and the localities they inhabited, in the hope
of throwing some further light upon their origin.
In treating this part of the subject, I propose to relate
first what concerns the purely wild variety, deferring
till afterwards the notices we have of domestic or
partially domesticated white herds nearly allied to the
wild.

Perhaps the earliest notice we have of the existence
of wild cattle im Saxon times is contained in the cele-
brated traditionary legend of the slaughter of the wild
cow by Guy, Earl of Warwick, which is said to have
taken place (and Leland confirms this supposed date
in his “ Itinerary,” written about 340 years since) “in
the dayes of King Athelstan,” who ascended the throne
A.D. 925, and died a.p. 941. The ancient ballad
entitled “Sir Guy of Warwick” will be found in
Ritson’s “ Ancient Songs and Ballads,” and it was, he
informs us, “entered on the Stationers’ Books ” (though
undoubtedly much older) in 1591. I give only that part
of the ballad which relates to this particular event :—

STANZA 3.
‘““ Nine hundred twenty years and odd,
After our Saviour Christ his birth,
When King Athelstan wore the crown,
I lived here upon the earth.”

Stanza 12.

“In Windsor forest I did slay
A boar of passing weight and strength,” &e.

THE COW OF DUNSMORE HEATH. 57

Sranza 14.
“On Dunsmore heath I also slew
A monstrous wild and cruel beast,
Called the dun cow of Dunsmore heath,

Which many people had oppressed,” &c.
The ballad proceeds to state that some of the bones of
both boar and cow still lie in the Castle of Warwick,
but one of the boar’s ‘“ shield bones ”

“ Hangs in the city of Coventry.”

I am quite willing to allow that much of this story may
be mythical, and many of its circumstances fabulous.
That matters not to my argument, which only requires
this to be conceded: that the memory of the wild boar
and the wild cow existed at a very early period in this
country, and that local traditions and histories clustered
round them. Had the animals been themselves suppo-
sititious, ike the dragon, the case would have been
altogether different; but as it is, I take it to prove just
as clearly the existence in very ancient times of the
dangerous and ferocious wild cow as the popular ballads
about Robin Hood prove the existence of fallow deer in
Sherwood Forest in the time of King John: as clearly
as the possibly exaggerated strains of some Hastern
poet, recapitulating in extravagant terms the hunting
exploits of the Prince of Wales in India, may prove
centuries hence to the then perhaps regenerated
Orientals that their country once had pathless jungles
infested by elephants and man-devouring tigers. ‘ It
proves,” say the learned editors of the English trans-
lation of Cuvier’s “ Regne Animal,’ “that in the tenth
century such actions were still m the memory of the
people, if not actually common.’’*
* Griffith’s “‘ Cuvier,” vol. iv., p. 416.

58 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Dunsmore Heath was in those days a wild and large
moor, in a heavily-wooded district, and close to the
small town of Dunchurch; it extended over numerous
parishes, and three of them are yet called Bourton-
upon-Dunsmore, Stretton-upon-Dunsmore, and Ryton-
upon-Dunsmore. There is no reason to suppose that
the colour of the cow was “dun.” That prefix has
evidently become attached to her name because she was
the Dunsmore cow; exactly as the celebrated cow
which was said to have miraculously determined the
site of Durham Cathedral, being found in the ‘“ Dun
Holme,” a pasture of that name, was afterwards known
as the “dun cow.” There is some reason (to which I
shall afterwards allude) for conjecturing that the wild
cow of Dunsmore may have been white.

In very early English history we have wild bulls
several times mentioned. In King Cnut’s ‘“ Consti-
tutiones de Foresta ” there is a passage as follows :*—
“There are also very many other animals, which,
though they live within the enclosure of the forest, can
nevertheless not be considered as belonging to the
forest, such as Bubali, cows, and the like.” ‘ Bubali”
—literally, buffaloes, which never existed in England—
is considered to mean wild bulls, in which sense it is
frequently used by Roman authors. There is nothing
to show whether or not these bulls were white: perhaps
not; they appear to be what Virgil calls “tauri syl-
vestres,” half-wild domesticated cattle.

Speaking of a time somewhat later, Matthew Paris,
in his “ Lives of the Abbots of St. Albans, ” says, with
regard to Leofstan, abbot in the time of Edward the

* Spelman’s “ Glossary,” p. 241; and Thorpe’s “Ancient Laws of
England,” 8vo, vol. i., p. 429, chap. xxxil.

WILD CATTLE ROUND ANCIENT LONDON. 59

Confessor: “He caused to be cut open the thick woods
which extended from the edge of Ciltria (the Chilterns)
nearly up to London, from the northern part where
chiefly runs the royal road called Watling Street—the
rough places to be smoothed, bridges to be built, and the
rugged roads levelled and made more safe. or at that
time there abounded throughout the whole of Ciltria
spacious woods, thick and large, the habitation of
numerous and various beasts, wolves, boars, forest bulls,
and stags.” * Though the name here is the same as I
have quoted above—fauri sylvestres—I hesitate to attach
to it the same meaning; being placed in the middle of
a list of wild animals, we must presume that these bulls
were actually wild.

The same is, I think, true with respect to the
mention of the same sort of bulls (auri sylvestres) by
Fitz-Stephen, who, writing about the year 1174, thus
describes the country immediately beyond the suburbs
of London :—‘‘ Close at hand lies an immense forest,
woody ranges, hiding-places of wild beasts, of stags, of
fallow deer, of boars, and of forest bulls.” This
passage further explains the preceding one; for this
was a part, now represented by Enfield Chase, of the
ereat forests of the Chiltern districts, in which the
Saxon chieftains, aided by some of the citizens of
London, long held out against the Norman conqueror,
under the countenance of Abbot Fretheric; and the
Charter of Henry I. recognises the right of the
citizens of London to hunt not only in Chiltern, but
in Middlesex and Surrey. I therefore place the

* For much of the foregoing I am indebted to two papers by ‘“ K. T.,”
in “Annals of Natural History:” the first, vol. iii, 1839; the second,
vol, iv., 2nd series, 1849.

60 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Chiltern “‘forest bull”? and this Middlesex one in the
same category. They were, according to Fitz-Stephen,
who was contemporary with them, “ wild beasts,” and,
as such, classed with wolves, boars, stags, and fallow
deer; and we thus have for more than 200 years, from
the time of Edward the Confessor to that of Henry II.,
the extensive forests of Buckinghamshire, Hertford-
shire, and Middlesex full of wild bulls—‘‘ abundabunt
abundanter.’ I will not say that they were white ones,
though they may have been; that question must be left
an open one. But surely, when what I have described
was the state of things just outside the gates of London,
we must hesitate long before we assert dogmatically
that the Urus himself may not have still existed in the
ten times larger, wilder, and more remote forests, moors,
and mosses of the north. It is only by the merest
accident that we have obtained, from the casual allusions
of two ancient writers, these particulars with regard to
the neighbourhood of London itself; but what historian
shall tell us how it fared with the wild bull in the
eleventh or twelfth century amid the Grampians and the
Cheviots ?

To that northern land we must now travel, and try
to find the wild bull in his mountain home. But first
it is necessary that we should clearly point out where
that home was. Commencing a few miles north of the
river Trent, there runs, in a continuous line northwards,
a long range of mountains, which are the very back-
bone of Northern England and Southern Scotland, to
which, from their resemblance to the similarly situated
line of mountains which runs through Italy, Camden
(whose “ Britannia” was first published in 1586, nearly
300 years since) gives the name of “The English

“THH BRITISH APENNINES.”’ 61

Apennines,’ * a name which has been adopted by many
other writers. This extended range of hills and
mountains divides the North of England into two
distinct sections; and though, when it gets to the
Cheviots and the South of Scotland, it sends out spurs
in all directions, and so covers much more of the
central parts of the country, yet the same is the case
there also. Throughout it is the great water-shed; all
the rivers and streams which empty themselves on the
one side into the North Sea, on the other into the Ivish
Channel and the Atlantic, have their source in its
recesses. It was for ages the boundary line between
rival and hostile kingdoms, separating, during a great
part of the Saxon period, along the whole of its long
Ime, the great Saxon and Danish kingdom of North-
umbria, which stretched from the Humber to the Frith
of Forth, from the Romano-Celtic kingdom of Strath-
clyde, extending from the Dee to the Clyde, to which it
formed a natural protection. “The tide,’ says Boyd
Dawkins, “of English colonisation rolled steadily west-
ward, until, at the close of the sixth century, the hilly
and impassable districts culminating in the Pennine
chain, and extending southwards from Cumberland and
Westmoreland, through Yorkshire and Derbyshire,
formed the barrier between the Brit-Welsh kingdoms
of Elmet and Strathclyde on the east, and the English
on the west.’ + Even the very powerful king Othel-
frith of Northumbria, at the beginning of the seventh
century, did not dare to face this formidable barrier, -
but led his forces round and to the south of it. “He
marched along the line of the Trent, through Stafford-

* Gibson’s Edition of Camden’s “ Britannia,” vol. ii., p. 127.
+ “Cave Hunting,” chap. iii., pp. 108, 109.

62 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

shire, avoiding thereby the difficult and easily defended
country of Derbyshire and East Lancashire,” in order
to destroy the power of Strathclyde.

Wild, and rugged, and sparsely peopled as many
parts of this huge mountain chain are now, few people
realise what it was in Saxon and early Norman times.
Commencing in the northern part of Staffordshire,
running up through Derbyshire and part of Cheshire,
dividing Yorkshire from Lancashire, and embracing a
good deal of both, it widened out and included the
mountains and fells of Cumberland and Westmoreland,
and much of Northumberland too. Joining there the
great Cheviot range, it spread nearly from sea to sea,
and entering Scotland, sent out in all directions
numerous spurs, under the protection of which nestled
half the southern Scottish counties, till it finally
terminated at the Clyde, the valley of which is the
only break for so great a distance in this long-con-
tinuing, elevated chain. Even that is but a short one: for
rising again upon the other side, passing near Stirling,
connected with the western Highlands, and containing
Ben Lomond in its centre, it traversed Breadalbane
and became incorporated with the Grampians, those
gigantic mountains which spread across Scotland from
east to west. There, in the vast congeries of the central
Highlands, the British Apennines are for a while lost,
merged in the enormous mass of those eternal hills; till
breaking out again at last north of Ross, they proceed
northwards, and, passing through Cromarty and Suther-
land, terminate at Cape Wrath. From this cape to the
centre of Staffordshire, if you draw a straight line, it
measures in length more than 400 miles; but this
mountain chain is even longer, for once at least, in the

EXTENT OF ANCIENT FORESTS. 63

southern part of Scotland, it makes a considerable bend,
forming the segment of a circle. In the central
English counties it is from twenty to forty miles in
width, but it expands as it proceeds northwards. It is
much broader as it traverses our northern counties, and
when it arrives in Scotland, and has the Cheviots as its
right arm, it is a hundred miles in breadth. It narrows
again somewhat when it approaches the river Clyde, but
rapidly widening again, embraces the whole of the
northern Highlands, at least a hundred miles in width
at their broadest part. It includes within its range all
the highest mountains in Britain, and, with the ex-
ception of those of Wales and Devonshire, almost all the
secondary ones.

But I have only described the mere skeleton of this
rocky district, which forms the backbone of our island
through two-thirds of its length. In ancient times its
large area—much of it-even now in a very wild state—
was one enormous mass of mountains, deep and wild
glens, forests, moors, and morasses intermixed. These
last often extended into the lower country, far beyond
the limits I have named. Nothing we have now left can
give us any idea of the state of things then: not the
moors of North Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, and Lanca-
shire, the wild wastes of Westmoreland, Cumberland,
and Northumberland, nor even the extensive deer forests
and moors of the Scottish Highlands; for the pathless
woods which then covered a great part of these districts
are all gone, and so also are the thick forests which, out-
side of, but connected with them, skirted these higher
grounds. The advance of man and the progress of cul-
tivation has destroyed most of these wild woods; but it
was not so in late Saxon or in early Norman times.

64 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Even in the less hilly districts more than half the
country was one vast forest, and in the north at least
these forests flanked the mountain ranges, extending
their wild influence, and, at the same time, rendering
them more inaccessible and wilder still. We have seen
already how, between the tenth and twelfth centuries,
great forests came up to the gates of London. A shght
sketch—and it must be one both slight and imperfect
at the best—may perhaps give some faint idea of the
savage state in which the central and northern parts of
the island of Britain then remained.

Even in the very centre of Hngland, where this
Apennine range ended, enormous forests clustered round
its southern point. ‘Two-thirds, or nearly, of the county
of Stafford, in which it commences, was, even in re-
latively modern times, either moorlands or woodlands.
The northern part, going nearly up to Buxton, was the
first ; the central and eastern part the last. Harwood,*
in his edition of ‘‘ Erdeswick’s Survey of Staffordshire,”
quotes from Sir Simon Degge, who says: “The moor-
lands are the more northerly mountainous part of the
county lying betwixt Dove and Trent; the woodlands
are the more southerly level part of the county. Be-
tween the aforesaid rivers, including Needwood Forest,
with all its parks, are also the parks of Wichnor,
Chartley, Horecross, Bagots, Loxley, and Paynesley,t

-* Hrdeswick began his “Survey ” in 1593. Sir Simon Degge was born
in 1612, became Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1673, and died in 1702.

+ Loxley is said to have been the birthplace of Robin Hood, who was
often called by the name of his native place—a thing not uncommon in
those days. It belonged to the Ferrers family. ‘Tutbury, where he is said
to have courted and married a shepherdess, is not far distant in the same
neighbourhood.

t Several others, and particularly Blithefield, might have been added.

EXTENT OF ANCIENT FORESTS. 65

which anciently were all but as one wood, that gave it
the name of Woodlands.” Leland, about 1536, though
he speaks of the woods being then much reduced, con-
firms this, and even carries this country of woods farther
south. He says: “Of antient tyme all the quarters of
the country about Lichefeild were forrest and wild
ground.” * That would, I believe, bring the Stafford-
shire woodlands close up to the purlieus of Charnwood
Forest, in Leicestershire. Nor is this all; only about
three miles north-west of Lichfield commences Cannock
Chase, with its parks as numerous and extensive as
those of Needwood, from which it was separated only
by the River Trent. This Chase, even at a quite recent
period, was ‘‘said to contain 36,000 acres ;” + while “in
Queen Elizabeth’s time Needwood Forest was twenty-
four miles in circumference.” { ‘They were both cele-
brated for their oaks and hollies, those in Needwood
alone, in 1658, when it had been much limited in
extent and denuded of its timber, being “valued at
£30,710.”

The northerly and mountamous moorland district
of the county of Stafford was undoubtedly, as many
names of places within it still indicate, anciently heavily
wooded too, and contains, near its northern extremity,
the singular defile of rocks and caverns locally called
Ludchurch, and said to have been the scene of Friar
Tuck’s ministrations to Robin Hood and his merry
men. ‘This part of Staffordshire, bounded by the river
Dove on its eastern side, and on the west passing
close to Congleton, in Cheshire, and another ancient
forest quite contiguous, described by old Leland in the

* “Ttinerary,” vol. iv., p. 114, Hearne’s 2nd edition.

+ Harwood’s “ Erdeswick,” p. 192. t LIoid, p. 279.

F

66 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

words—‘“‘ and Maxwell Forest thereby’ *—is inserted,
like a wedge, near Buxton, into that bold and wild country
where the great forest of Macclesfield, in Cheshire, the
Peak Forest, and the high Derbyshire moors uniting
together constitute “ that mountainous and large-featured
district, which, in the ancient times, had been well tim-
bered and formed part of the great midland forest of
England.” + Anda part only; for we have seen that this
midland forest district, of which the Peak was the
centre, included towards the south the greater part of
Staffordshire, while towards the east an imaginary line
only separated it from the mighty forest of Sherwood.
From Nottingham to Manchester was one continuous
forest, and far into Yorkshire the great wood extended
to join other and more northern forests there.

From the Peak northwards, throughout West
Yorkshire and Hast Lancashire, the forests, moors, and
mosses connected with this mountain range were 1m-
mense. JI will mention one or two circumstances
calculated to give some idea of their extent. The
learned Dr. Whitaker, describing Whalley in Lancashire
in late Saxon and early Norman times, says :—“ If,
excluding the forest of Bowland, we take the parish of
Whalley as a square of 161 miles, from this sum at least
70 miles, or 27,657 acres, must be deducted for the four
forests or chaces of Blackburnshire, which belonged to
no township or manor, but were at that time mere
derelicts, and therefore claimed, as heretofore unappro-
_priated, by the first Norman lords. There will therefore
remain for the different manors and townships 36,000

* “Ttinerary,” vol. v., p. 87, Hearne’s 2nd edition.
+ Dr. Robertson’s “ Buxton and the Peak,” 1875, p. 41.

HXTHNT OF ANCIENT FORESTS. 67

or thereabouts, of which 3,520, or not quite a tenth part,
was in a state of cultivation; while the vast resszduum
stretched far and wide, like an ocean of waste inter-
spersed with a few inhabited islands.” * Let us try to
realise the state of things, when out of 63,657 acres of
land, over 60,000 were either forest or waste, and nearly
half of that amount unclaimed and unappropriated ;
while close at hand towards the north was the still
larger and wilder forest of Bowland, and towards the
south that of Rosendale with an amazing range of moors
beyond it.

But this statement only shows how the great central
range was covered and fringed with wastes and forests
on its western side. On the eastern side in the same
neighbourhood, the country. of Craven, it was just the
same, even so lately as the time of Henry VIII. Leland
says:—“ The forest from a mile beneth Gnaresburgh
(Knaresborough) to very nigh Bolton yn Craven is about
a twenty miles in lenght: and in bredeth it is in sum
places an vuj. miles,’ + which is just about what it is, the
whole intermediate district between Bolton and Bowland
forest or between it and Whalley, being about as wild as
anything can be.

I will not fatigue the reader by carrying him to the
remaining parts of the north of England, where the
same state of things prevailed, often on an even yet
larger scale ; one forest alone in Cumberland, and that
not in its wildest part, being described in “The
Chartulary of Lanercost Priory ” as extending at the
time of the Norman Conquest from Carlisle to Penrith,

* Dr. Whitaker's ‘‘ Parish of Whalley and Honor of Clitheroe,” 3rd
edition, 1818, p. 171. ,
+ Leland’s “Itinerary.”

FQ

68 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

a distance of eighteen miles, and as “a goodly forest,
full of woods, red deer and fallow, wild swine, and all
manner of wild beasts.” * But I have given a sufficient
specimen of what the English Apennines were, when
clothed and surrounded with their primeval forests ; and
I must leave it to the imagination of the reader to
work out the details. He can scarcely over-estimate the
wildness that everywhere prevailed, when an immense
forest spreading in all directions was in Southern Scot-
land supposed to have filled the intervening space
between Chillingham and Hamilton, a distance as the
crow flies of about eighty miles, imcluding within it
Ettrick and numerous other forests. Still less can I
hope to depict the savagedom of the North, when the
great Caledonian wood, known even at + Rome, covered
the greater part of both lowlands and highlands, its
relics later affording protection, before its final extinc-
tion as a purely wild animal, to Scotland’s grand white
bull, which history and tradition agree in telling us
had so long inhabited it.

The whole of this immense range of mountains and
hills, with its vast forests and wastes, was possibly as
favourable a locality for the preservation of aboriginal
wild animals as the Hyrcinian Forest itself, with which,
indeed, it may bear some comparison. It is certainly a

* Quoted by Jefferson in his “ Hist. and Antiq. of Cumberland,” 1840,
p. 7. The “Chartulary of Lanercost Priory” is in the library of the
Dean and Chapter of Carlisle, and Mr. Jefferson mentions in his preface,
page 7, that he was allowed to consult the MS.

+ The bear of the Caledonian forest was well known in the Roman

circus, aes. j
“ Nuda Caledonio sic pectora prebuit urso,

Haud falta pendens in cruce Laureolus.”

And the “Sylva Caledon’a” is mentioned by the martial geographer
Ptolemy, and other Roman authors.

PRESERVATION OF WILD ANIMALS. 69

singular fact, but one which I believe will be universally
accepted as true, that not a single wild animal which
existed in Britain when Cesar first landed in the year
55 B.c., became extinct before the close of the eleventh
century of the Christian era. The range of the rein-
deer had, indeed, become confined to the extreme north,
but this was owing to the circumstance that our climate
and the pasturage had been through long ages becoming
less and less adapted for its sustenance. And if, as I
am inclined to believe, the Urus did not perish in pre-
historic times in Britain, I think the circumstances
under which he was placed for the next eleven or twelve
hundred years would be eminently conducive to his pre-
servation. He had abundance of cover, shelter, and
food; the population of the regions he inhabited was
during all those centuries decimated by endless wars ;
frequently the people were well-nigh exterminated al-
together. Even of Southern Britain the Romans were
not well masters till about eighty years after Christ, and
not more than 350 years later they left it for good.
While York was the seat of their empire, often indeed
for a time the residence of their emperors (two of whom
died there), the high civilisation they created round
them caused a great increase of cultivation, and may
have had some effect upon the ancient central forests.
But I think not much; for the Roman legions which
could be spared from other parts of this vast empire,
surrounded as it was everywhere then by hostile and
savage foes, had little time for clearing away woods.
When not occupied, as they constantly were, in attack-
ing the Picts and the Scots, or in constructing and
guarding defensive works to prevent invasion, they were
employed in making everywhere throughout the Roman

70 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

province those wondrous roads which attested to after
ages the great skill and science they brought to bear on
that laborious task. But I do not conceive that in
Central England the Romans interfered with the ancient
forests more than was necessary to preserve free and un-
interrupted communication. For experience proves that
primeval forests once destroyed, are seldom, and that
with great difficulty, restored; while these were as
flourishing as ever throughout the Saxon period and
long after.

Beyond the Cheviots, and latterly beyond the Tyne,
the influence of the Romans was small indeed. Though
they made numerous incursions into Caledonia, they
never conquered it. ‘Towards the close of the first
century, their great general, Agricola, attempted to do
this; he advanced through the Lowlands and defeated
the Picts under Galgacus at the foot of the Grampians,
driving them back to their mountain holds beyond.
Desirable as it was to Rome to conquer these formidable
tribes, in whom Tacitus, the son-in-law of Agricola, re-
cognised the farthest off of the earth’s inhabitants, the last
champions of freedom, “ ¢errarum ac hbertatis extremos,”
he could never subjugate them. Scanty im number,
but fierce and suspicious, they retained their vast fir
forests and wastes; while Agricola himself retreated at
last, and so owned his weakness, building from sea to
sea, from the Clyde to the Firth of Forth, a line of
frontier fortresses and a great wall of stone to keep out
the barbarians whom he could not conquer. It was in
vain. ‘The Picts and the Scots mustered in stronger
numbers; when they could, broke through the wall,
when they could not, sailed round it. The Romans
again made a defensive rampart farther back, built in

EFFECTS OF CONSTANT WAR. all

the time of Hadrian, of earth, and extending from the
Solway to the Tyne; thus virtually giving up the whole
of Scotland and Northumbria as well. Again the Picts
and Scots broke through, and at last marched up to the
gates of York, the capital of Roman Britain. Then in
the year 207 the Emperor Severus himself came,
defeated the Caledonians, and overran their country ;
but nothing more. He returned to York, strengthened
and built with stone Hadrian’s rampart, and, dying
there, bequeathed on his death-bed to his sons Caracalla
and Geta as relentless a hatred against the Scots as
Edward I. did to his son, the second Edward. But 1t
was not fated that Scotland was to submit to the Roman
yoke. A sort of armed truce for some years succeeded,
till at last the Romans, in the year 409, were obliged to
withdraw their troops from Britain, and the northern
foe overran the whole island.

We know well what followed. For seven hundred
years afterwards such continuous and destructive wars
as the world has seldom seen within so small a space,
raged everywhere. Picts and Scots fought with Romano-
Britons, Saxons, Danes, and often between themselves.
The Anglo-Saxons landed, and throughout eastern,
southern, and central England (the name our country
then assumed) utterly exterminated the Romano-Celtic
race. Then the new seven kingdoms turned their arms
against each other. Their differences were scarcely
healed when they in their turn were invaded by another
northern tribe, the savage and heathen Danes. For
more than a hundred years the conflict was carried on
with varying success, and the land was desolated; and
while these wounds were scarcely closed, over came
the Norman Conqueror to ravage and to desolate, at

72 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

least the northern counties which resisted him, still
more. According to William of Malmesbury, Wiliam
razed the city of York to the ground; he laid the
whole country waste from the Humber to the Tweed,
and rendered it so complete a scene of desolation that
for nine years neither the plough nor the spade was put
into the ground; and such was the wretched state of
the inhabitants who escaped the sword, that they were
forced to eat dogs and cats, horses, and even human
flesh, to preserve their miserable existence. This
account is confirmed by Roger Hoveden and Simeon of
Durham, as well as by the concurrent testimony of all
the historians of those times.

When such had been the state of things for eleven
hundred years, from one end of the British Apennines
to the other; prevailing always throughout the greater
part of the country bordering upon them, often through-
out the whole ; can we wonder that the primzeval forests
flourished, and that wild animals increased and mul-
tiplied, while man decayed, and would indeed have been
well-nigh extirpated if his numbers had not been re-
cruited by fresh importations from abroad? An exactly
similar condition of things is deseribed by Sir Walter
Scott when relating the destructive effects of the great
war between the English and Scottish for the posses-
sion of the Scottish throne at the commencement of the
fourteenth century, and I the rather quote from him be-
cause he refers to Douglas Dale, one of those wild valleys
which lie at the foot of the great mountain range itself.

« Above all,” says Sir Walter, “it was war-time, and
of necessity all circumstances of mere convenience were
obliged to give way to a paramount sense of danger.
The inhabitants, therefore, instead of trying to amend

LAST HOME OF THE WILD ANIMALS. 73

the paths which connected them with other districts,
were thankful that the natural difficulties which
surrounded them rendered it unnecessary to break up or
to fortify the access from more open countries. Their
wants, with a very few exceptions, were completely
supplied by the rude and scanty produce of their own
mountains and holms, the last of which served for the
exercise of their limited agriculture, while the better
part of the mountains and forest glens produced pasture
for their herds and flocks. The recesses of the unex-
plored depths of these sylvan retreats beg seldom
disturbed, especially since the lords of the district had
laid aside during this time of strife their constant
occupation of hunting, the various kinds of game had
increased of iate very considerably, so that not only in
erossing the rougher parts of the hilly and desolate
country we are describing, different varieties of deer
were occasionally seen, but even ¢he wild caltle peculiar
to Scotland sometimes showed themselves, and other
animals which indicated the irregular and disordered
state of the period. The wild cat was frequently sur-
prised in the dark ravines or swampy thickets; and the
wolf, already a stranger to the more populous districts
of the Lothians, here maintained his ground against the
encroachments of man, and was still himself a terror to
those by whom he was finally to be extirpated.”

The above I consider an exact description of the
state of the wilder parts of Northern England and
Scotland during the exterminating wars which desolated
them for eleven hundred years. Scott omits to mention
the wild boar, which, however, in the subsequent account
of the day’s hunting which followed, he names as
one of the objects of pursuit.

CHAPTER IV.

From Forest to Park— Gradual extinction of Wild Animals in Forests, whilst still
remaining in the Parks—Historical Notices of Wild Cattle in Parks—Tradi-
tion of Saint Robert—Park Cattle the great Improvers of the Durham or
Teeswater Cattle —The Studley Herd a White Breed—The Bishop of
Durham’s White Cattle at Bishop Auckland—The Crest of the Nevill family
a White Bull—Chillingham—The Chillingham Cattle perhaps from the
Royal Park at Chatton—Naworth—Frequent Mention of Wild Cattle under
the Name of ‘“‘ Wild Beasts”—Leigh Park, Somerset.

Havine shown in the preceding chapter how favourable

for so long a period the state of the country was for the

continued existence of Britain’s aboriginal wild bull;
and having also shown that wild cattle of some kind,
though history does not specify of what variety, per-
vaded the forests of the Chiltern districts and of

Middlesex, even up to the gates of London, in late

Saxon and early Norman times ; I proceed to point out

the traditional and historical evidence we have of the

continuance of the white forest breed of this country in

a nearly wild state up to a comparatively late period.

And though I shall, as far as I am able, distinguish

between the historical and the traditional, they are

everywhere so blended together, strengthening and
corroborating each other, that it is often not easy to give
them separately.

I have no reason to believe that after the early

Norman age the wild bull was ever very numerous,

except perhaps in some parts of Scotland and in certain

FORMATION OF PARKS. i)

parts of the North of England. And as population
increased, and the great forests every day diminished
during the Plantagenet reigns, it became, like the wolf
and the wild boar, and eventually the roe-deer, as a wild
animal extinct in England. In a few favoured spots
protected by some powerful lord, spiritual or temporal, a
few herds may have held their ground somewhat longer,
but very few I think after the death of Richard II., in
the year 1400. In Scotland the wild cattle continued
in a perfectly wild state much longer in some parts ;
but in other parts perhaps even in Scotland, and
certainly generally in England, they ceased to be beasts
of the forest at even an earlier date than the above.
The cause is very apparent, and is the same as that
which eventually led to the extinction in a perfectly
wild state of most of the larger beasts of chase. The
forest was gradually superseded by the park. Even
kings and nobles found that in spite of their stringent
forest laws, as time went on and population grew and
increased, game diminished. The forests were invaded
by the ever-multiplying claims of adjoining freeholders,
and the game, if not destroyed, as was sometimes the
case, was everywhere much disturbed.* The wild
animals were obliged to retire before a growing civilisa-
tion. Our princes and great men soon saw how to
meet the case. With the permission of the Sovereign,
which was very liberally granted, they enclosed within
a pale, hay (hedge), or wall, large ranges of the forest,

* As an instance of this it may be mentioned that Hatfield Chase, in
South Yorkshire, contained, in 1607, 70,000 acres and 1,000 head of red
deer; but that “the herd was much impaired by the depredations of the
borderers.” (Shirley, ‘“‘ Deer and Deer Parks,” p. 217.) The same thing

happened, to my knowledge, to the fallow-deer of Sherwood Forest, of which
one of my mother’s family was the last verderer.

76 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

with the beasts they contained or with others driven in,
and this enclosure became a park. ‘Thus the land, and
all that it contained, was secured for ever to the owner as
his own sole property; no one could interfere or enter,
unless he chose to subject himself to such heavy
penalties as the law imposed;* the beasts of chase
harboured undisturbed, and they were more easily kept
and guarded. The system that prevailed may be seen
from the nature of the license which Henry I. or Henry
II. gave with respect to Woodcote Park, at Horton in
Epsom. “The Abbots of Chertsey were licensed to
have their park here shut up whenever they would, and
that they might have all the beasts which they could
take therein.” t

The extension of such a system largely carried on
in every county, and most of all within the range of
the great forests, was sure to lead in the end to the
destruction of the larger beasts of chase in the forests,
while they were retained in the parks; for in the forests
they became far less valuable and less the objects of
care and preservation. Hxcept so far as they were
preserved in parks, all gradually disappeared, though
not all at once. First the wild ox, then, in England
(though not in Scotland) the roe-deer, then the wild
boar, then the fallow-deer, and lastly (with the exception
of a few on Exmoor, and those of the Scottish deer
forests specially protected by man, and indebted to his

* By Stat. Westminster I., ec. 20, “ Trespassers in parks or ponds shall
give treble damages to the party grieved, suffer three years’ imprisonment,
be fined at the King’s pleasure, and give surety never to offend in the like
kind again; and if they cannot find surety they shall abjure the realm, or
being fugitive shall be outlawed.”

+ Shirley, “Deer and Deer Parks,” p. 62, quoting Manning and Bray’s
“Surrey,” vol. ii, p. 611.

ENCLOSURE OF WILD ANIMALS. 77

care for their existence) the red deer also. Throughout
England, and the greater part of Scotland too, the red
and fallow-deer, like the wild bull, exist only as park
animals, while in both countries the wild boar has
altogether ceased to live.

It was not so once. I have already given in my
last chapter Sir Walter Scott’s account—shall I call it
traditional, or historical, or both, as I believe it is P—
of the state of southern Scotland, and its wild cattle
during the war with the second Edward. Let me give
as most apposite to my subject the supposed hunting
match which he describes as undertaken by Sir John de
Walton and the English garrison of Douglas Castle, so
far as it relates to the pursuit of these animals. ‘“ The
wild cattle, the most formidable of all the tenants of
the ancient Caledonian forest, were, however, to the
English cavaliers by far the most interesting objects of
pursuit. . . . During the course of the hunting,
when a stag or a boar was expected, one of the wild
cattle often came rushing forward, bearing down the
young trees, crashing the branches on its progress, and
in general dispersing whatever opposition was presented
to it by the hunters. Sir John de Walton was the only
one of the chivalry of the party who individually
succeeded in mastering one of these powerful animals.
Like a Spanish tauridor, he bore down and killed with
his lance a ferocious bull; two well-grown calves and
three kine were also slain, being unable to carry off
the quantity of arrows, javelins, and other missiles,
directed against them by the archers and drivers,
but many others, in spite of every endeavour to inter-
cept them, escaped to their gloomy haunts in the
remote skirts of the mountain called Cairntable, with

78 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

their hides well feathered with those marks of human
enmity.” *

We know that the tale from which this is taken,
though founded on certain well-known facts, is in many
of its circumstances a fictitious narrative. So also were
Shakspere’s plays. But the merit of both authors was
that they were so true to nature and reality. The
description of this hunting match is as true to the
history and traditions of the locality and the period, as
that of Sherwood forest, its oaks, and its fallow-deer,
in “ Ivanhoe,” is known to be historically and tradition-
ally correct upon the banks of the Trent. The prevalence
of these cattle in numerous parks dating from very
ancient times is also proved by history. | Bewick,
writing ten years before the close of the last century,
says :—‘‘ There was formerly a very singular species of
wild cattle in this country, which is now nearly extinct.
Numerous herds of them were kept in several parks of
England and Scotland.”+ Professor Low, in his
“ Domesticated Animals,’ published about forty years
since, tells us that “‘ part had been preserved in some of
the parks attached to the religious houses, their flesh
being more esteemed than that of their ‘awin tame
bestial.’”’{ Numerous instances of their being kept.in
parks I can give, in some cases from very early times,
going back to what may be called the forest period, as
described above by Scott; and in a few instances
bringing them down to the present day. I begin with

* “Castle Dangerous,” chap. vii.

+ “ History of Quadrupeds,” 1st edition, 1790.

{ “Domesticated Animals of the British Islands,” chap. iii., p. 235,
8vo edition. I much regret that I have not been able to discover from

what author Professor Low makes this quotation, which appears to be of
some antiquity.

PARKING OF WILD CATTLE. 79

Chartley Park in Staffordshire, one of the parks which
Sir Simon Degge tells us was cut out of Needwood Forest,
which Leland nearly 350 years since calls a “mightye
large Park,” and which is described by Erdeswick, himself
a Staffordshire man, at the close of that century, as con-
taining besides deer, ‘‘ wild beasts and swine.” The “wild
beasts ” it still contains, and the tradition is, that both
they and the swine, as well as the deer, were driven in
from the royal forest of Needwood when the park was
enclosed about the year 1248, by charter of Henry III.,
a tradition strongly corroborated by the circumstance
that the wild boar at least could have scarcely come
from anywhere else. We cannot expect to find in every
case such evidence as this; but the Park of Lyme Hall,
in Cheshire, some thirty-five miles to the north, which
yet retains the wild bull, and has done so for ages, still
belongs to the family of Legh, to which it was
granted by Richard II., being cut out of the Forest of
Macclesfield, from which its ‘‘ wild beasts ” are said to be
derived. It was imparked towards the close of the
fourteenth century, being given as a reward for the
services of Sir Piers Legh, who was standard-bearer to
the Black Prince at the battle of Crecy. Intermediate
between Chartley and Lyme Hall still exists a very
ancient breed of white cattle of unknown antiquity,
and, though polled, much resembling those at Chartley,
and which, though now domesticated, I feel convinced
were in olden times wild. ‘They are at Sir Charles
Shakerley’s, Somerford Park, near Congleton, a place in
the heart of what was once Maxwell Forest, mentioned
by Leland.* On the opposite and eastern side of this
vast range of hills and forests lies Wollaton, near

* “Ttinerary,” vol. v., p. 87, Hearne’s 2nd edition.

80 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Nottingham. Here, till recently, was another wild herd
of white cattle, mentioned by Bewick near a hundred
years since, whose origin is not known; but the park
itself, lying on the verge of Sherwood Forest, is of the
date of the Edwards. All these herds will be described
fully in their proper places.

Advancing northwards, some eighteen miles from
Lyme Hall, we arrive at Middleton, the ancient seat of
the Asshetons, a few miles north of Manchester. Here,
the learned Dr. Charles Leigh relates, there were, in the
year 1700, ‘‘in a park, wild cattle belonging to Sir
Ralph Ashton of Middleton.” ‘They have no horns,
but are like the wild bulls and cows upon the continent
of America, of which Monsieur Hennipin has given us
a full account.”* And that this county was cele-
brated for them centuries before is evident, for Leland,
writing previously to the dissolution of the monas-
teries, says about Blakeley, which was close to the |
Assheton’s park at Middleton, ‘“‘ wild bores, bulles, and
falcons bredde iz times paste at Blakele.” — The present
descendants of these “ wild cattel”’ will be hereafter
alluded to.

- Some twenty miles north of Middleton, and, like it,
at the foot of the great central range, lies Whalley
Abbey, once surrounded by those extensive forests
before described. It was granted, in the reign of
Edward VI., to another branch of the family of
Assheton; and from the “Lord Abbot's Park” at
Whalley ancient tradition says that the wild cattle
came, also polled, which belonged to the Listers of

* “ Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak of Derby-

shire : ” Oxford, 1700, book ii., p. 3.
+ “Itinerary,” vol. vii., p. 47, Hearne’s 2nd edition.

HISTORICAL NOTICES. 81

Gisburne Park, a few miles distant among the Yorkshire
hills; a herd which has only recently become extinct.
This tradition, which has continued very strong among
the old people at Whalley up to the present day, 1s much
confirmed by the close and frequent intermarriages that
took place between the Asshetons and the Listers, and
by the considerable amount of property the latter in-
herited from the former. But in all cases, both at
Whalley and at Gisburne, tradition points to the wild
bull of Bowland Forest as the ultimate origin of these
cattle, only enclosed in the park when he was verging
to extinction in his native ranges.

Little more than ten miles south-west of Whalley,
we come to Hoghton Tower, the ancient residence of
the De Hoghtons, in whose park, now destroyed, tradi-
tion says that the wild bull was kept. This tradition is
still believed,* and it is confirmed by two circumstances.
When James I. visited Sir Richard Hoghton in 1617,
one of the dishes with which the royal banquet was
more than once supplied was “wild boar pye;” ft a
remarkable instance of the continued existence of that
animal, which renders it extremely probable that the
wild bull was his companion. This is rendered yet more
likely because the De Hoghton crest is the wild bull,
and the two supporters of the arms are the same. The
crest is thus heraldically described by Burke :—“ A bull,
passant, argent ; the ears, tip of the horns, mane, hoofs,
and point of the tail sable ;” {—a capital description of

* Sir Henry De Hoghton, in a letter to me, strongly confirms the ex-
istence of this tradition, and says it is much corroborated by the numerous
“ Bulls” and “ White Bulls” which are yet the signs of inns and public-
houses in the neighbourhood of Hoghton.

+ Nicholls’s ‘‘ Progresses, &c., of James I.,” vol. iii., p. 402.
t “Peerage and Baronetage.”

G

82 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

the wild bull. It is said, indeed, that during portions
of their long career the De Hoghtons have borne as
their crest the bull’s head alone ;* but one or other—the
wild bull itself, or its head—they have borne for many
centuries, and in such a matter ancient heraldry must
be evidence of great weight.

We return from Hoghton Tower, and crossing, wa
Whalley, the Craven Hills, we arrive at the eastern
side of the great mountain chain. Here was the great
Forest of Knaresborough, the extent of which has been
before mentioned. In this forest, in the time of King
John, who is said to have visited him with all his
court, lived, at one time alone, at another in company
with others, the celebrated hermit, Saint Robert of
Knaresborough, whose fame long survived in the North,
on account of his acts of charity to the poor, and of the
miracles he was supposed to have wrought for their
benefit. He was long honoured as the founder and
patron saint of the Priory of Knaresborough, and that
monastic house did full justice to his memory. There
exists, in the possession of the Duke of Newcastle, and
lent by him to the learned Mr. Walbran,t a MS. “ Life
of Saint Robert,” written in Latin rhyming triplets, in
Latin prose and in English metre, by (as Mr. Walbran
supposes) the Prior of Knaresborough, the date of
which is placed “in the early part of the fifteenth
century.” I give quotations—premising, however, that

* Sir H. De Hoghton has a grant from the Heralds’ College to one
Thomas Hoghton, dated 1588, that he might use the white bullas his crest,
in lieu of a bull’s head, argent, &e.; but Sir Henry has reasons to think
that this was a personal favour, and that the white bull entire had been the
family crest anterior to that date.

+ See Walbran’s “Memorials of the Abbey of St. Mary of Fountains,”
vol. xliii. of the publications of the Surtees Society.

SAINT ROBERT OF KNARESBOROUGH. 83

it is doubtful who “ The Earl” was to whom the saint
applied :-—
< At Robertus rursum ivit,
Vaccam unam expetivit,

Comes quidem accersivit,
Kt libenter tribuit.

« Hic, ut miser, mendicavit,
Quibus sibi sociavit,
Pane, potu, prece, pavit

Ac sanare studuit.

“ Dux donabat tunc Roberto’
Vaccam feram in deserto,
Quam deduxit in aperto

Mansuetam moribus.

«“ Domum duxit, dicte gentes
Obstupescunt intuentes :
Horum movebantur mentes,

In interioribus.”

«But good Robert went again,
Asking a cow them to sustain ;
Sent the Earl his wish to obtain,
And pledged her then and there.

« Piteous saint, and mendicant,
For his brethren ill in want,
Meat, drink, prayer, were never scant,
Nor for their health his care.

“ Gave the Earl, thereon to Robert,
One fierce wild one in the desert,
Her he brought out, and naught was hurt,
She gentle as she should be.

“ Home he led her, the said peers
Were astonished, eyes and ears,
Minds were moved with sudden fears,

As awed as they should be.”

84 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The above English translation, being modernised,
gives a faithful and spirited rendering of the Latin
original. As aspecimen of the more ancient form, I
give a quotation from an English metrical Life of Saint
Robert, taken from a MS. belonging to Mr. Drury, of
Harrow, and published by the Roxburghe Club in 1824.
The canto is headed—

“QUOMODO VACCAM DOMAVIT.”

“‘ Off a myracle wylle I melle,
That I trow be trew and lele,
Of sayntt Robertt; anes, as I rede,
Off a cow he had nede
To hys pormen in hys place ;
Tharefor to the Erll Roberd gayse,
And for a cowe he com and craved.
He graunte hym ane that wytles raued ;
He bad hym to hys forest fare,
‘ And syke a cowe take the thare,
I halde hyr wyld, maik thou hyr tame.’
Robert rayked, and thider yode,
And fand this cowe wyttles and wode ;
Sty]l she stode, nathynge stirrand,
Roberd arest hyr in a band,
And hame wyth hyr full fast he hyed ;
Meruayle them thoght that stod besyde.
Byrde and best all bowed hym tyll,
Kuer to wyrke after hys wyll.”

The sequel was that the Earl and his men, over-
‘coming their surprise, tried to get the cow back again,
but were miraculously prevented by the interposition of
the saint. :

I have given this account at full length because I
think it affords the strongest proof of the existence of
the wild cattle in the Forest of Knaresborough at a very

EVIDENCE OF THE LEGEND. 85

early period—as strong a proof, perhaps, as there is of
their existence in Scotland in a wild state a hundred
years later. This writer of about the year 1400, relating
events which took place about the year 1200, makes the
“fierce wild” cow, supposed to be utterly irreclaimable—
ranging through “ the desert,” according to one version
of the story ; in “ the forest,” according to another *—a
principal actor in the narrative. I feel sure that the
narrator was quite aware that such cattle existed in the
times of which he wrote, and, in all probability, in the
age in which he himself lived, and that those for whose
benefit he wrote knew this full well. If this had not
been the case, his narrative would have been destitute of
the first elements of credibility; and knowing, as we
do, what the forest breed was on all sides, we may
safely assume that this wild cow was of the same de-
scription and colour also: for, as the wild cattle were
always alike in that respect, ancient writers seldom
thought it necessary to mention that particular. Le-
land, for instance, never names the colour of the wild
bulls he speaks of, but we know from subsequent writers
that those in the very places where he mentions their
existence were white; and many other examples might
be given. I think this, then, a very strong and
stout link in the chain of my argument.

Advancing farther northwards, through a country
thickly studded with ancient parks, and leaving on the
left the wildest and most mountainous part of the North
Riding, we come, at the distance of about thirty miles,
to the River Tees, the southern boundary of the county
of Durham, and whose vale has produced the most

* Such an extensive forest as that of Knaresborough then was, must
have included, besides its woods, much wild and “ desert” ground.

86 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

famous of modern cattle. I feel little doubt that if the
ancient history of the parks I have mentioned could be
fully brought to light, and the animals they contained
known, it would be found that of many of them the
wild bull was a denizen—for I think there are some
faint, though valuable, traces of its existence in this
district. From parks in this neighbourhood* were
derived, principally, the bulls to the use of which, in the
last century, can be traced the great improvement which
was then made in the Teeswater or Durham cattle, and
these bulls were generally white. Mr. John Hutchin-
son, banker, of Stockton-on-Tees, one of the most in-
telligent of the early Durham or Short-horn breeders,
and whose information went back further than that of
most people, considered that the improved Short-horns,
or Teeswaters, contained the blood of the “ native white
breed preserved at Chillingham ;” while he calls the one
herd which contributed more than any other to the im-
provement a “ white breed.” + The Rev. Henry Berry,
too, one of the most devoted of breeders, and most ac-
complished and best informed of our writers on cattle,
says :—‘‘ One cross, to which the breeders on the banks
of the Tees referred, was, in all probability, the white
wild breed ; and, if this conjecture be well founded, it
will be apparent whence the Short-horns derived a colour

* These were the parks of the Milbankes of Barmingham, within two
miles and a half of the Tees, and about five from Barnard Castle; of the
Milbankes of Thorpe Perrow, close to Bedale; and of the Aislabies of
Studley Royal, near Ripon.

+ This was the Studley Royal herd. In a letter, published in the
Farmer’s Journal in 1821, Mr. Hutchinson calls these cattle, “the white
breed of Mr. Aislabie, of Studley Royal; ” and in a pamphlet, published in
1822, after mentioning “ the Chillingham,” which, he says, ‘may not im-
properly be called Albions,” he adds, “and of which breed no doubt were
those at Studley.”

THH WHITE CATTLE AND SHORT-HORNS. | 87

so prevalent among them.”* After much inquiry, I
entirely concur in this opinion.

Let me mention another circumstance which may
possibly throw some light on this question. Stanwick
Park, the property of the Duke of Northumberland,
and inherited by him from the Smithsons, is rather
more than two miles south of the River Tees, half-way
between Darlington and Barnard Castle. From the
duke’s agent here, Mr. Charles Colling bought, in
1784, a Teeswater cow he called ‘ Duchess.” The
family came, in 1810, into the hands of Mr. Bates, of
Kirklevington, and are still very celebrated cattle, bear-
ing the same designation. Mr. Bates believed that he
had discovered a tradition that the ancestors of this
cow had been in the park at Stanwick, “in the pos-
session of the ancestors of the Duke of Northumberland
for two centuries’’t before; and the tradition appears
to have been confirmed, to a certain extent, by Lord
Prudhoet (afterwards fourth duke), who then lived
there. But this tradition, in its present form, is clearly
incorrect. No other good Teeswater had ever been
known to exist at Stanwick, though the most careful
inquiries were made by most competent persons, § and
Lord Prudhoe in vain sought among its old records for
information. The Smithsons, too, had possessed the
estate only a little more than a hundred years, obtaining

Rev. H. Berry, in Youatt’s “Cattle,”’ chap. vii.

+ Mr. Bates added this to the pedigree of one of his “ Duchess ” cows,
when he entered her in the “ Short-horn Herd-book,” vol. v., p. 201.

{ Bell’s “ History of the Kirklevington Cattle,” pp. 27, 28.

§ Mr. Faweett, of Childwick Hall, St. Albans, and Mr. Wood, himself
for many years a resident at Stanwick, both eminent breeders themselves,

and both the sons of well-known breeders, have each assured me that

many years since they made every possible inquiry with no satisfactory
result.

88 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

it from the family of Catterick. They then resided in
London, and had then recently been under a cloud for
the part they took in the civil wars. It was, therefore,
hardly possible that a domestic herd could have passed
through all these changes, and been continued from the
days of Queen Elizabeth. But a wild herd might; like
deer, they were, in law, part and parcel of the park they
inhabited, and passed along with it. It is my strong
impression that it is to such a herd the tradition refers,
and that if the steward’s accounts of that period existed
and could be examined at Stanwick, as they have been
at Chartley, some mention might be found in the one
case, as 1n the other, of the ‘ wild beasts.”

But we cross the Tees, and enter the Palatinate of
Durham, whose prince bishop exercised formerly almost
more than royal power, in consequence of his being
in this district virtually ‘Rex atque Sacerdos.” It
abounded anciently, particularly its western side, with
wastes, wilds, and primeval forests. Even Durham
itself, when the monks, in the year 995, brought there
the body of St. Cuthbert, and began to build its famous
minster, is thus described in a Saxon poem, given in
Hickes’ Anglo-Saxon Grammar :—

« And there grow
Great forests ;
There live in the recesses
Wild animals of many sorts ;

In the deep valleys

Deer innumerable.”

Half-way between Durham and the Tees is Bishop
Auckland, one of the principal residences of the Bishops
of Durham; Brancepeth Castle—so called, it is_ said,
from a celebrated boar which frequented the neighbour-

WILD CATTLE IN ANCIENT DURHAM. 89

hood (Brawn’s Path)—with its numerous ancient parks,
being intermediate. Before the Reformation wild cattle
were kept in the park at Bishop Auckland by the
Bishops of Durham. Leland says :—“There is a fair
park by the castelle, having fallow deer, wilde bulles,
and kin” (kine). And a hundred years later, when
Sir William Brereton, afterwards a famous Parliamentary
general, visited the place, the “wild beasts” were still
there, and as wild as they could be. His MS.* account
is entitled “The Second Yeare’s Travell throw Scott-
land and Ireland, 1635.” The writer passes a few days,
on his way to Scotland, “att Bishoppe Auckland with
Dr. Moreton, Bishoppe of Durham, who maintains
great hospitalitie in an orderlie well governed house,
and is a verye worthy reverend bishoppe.” After de-
scribing the palace, ‘‘ chapples,” &c., he thus proceeds:
—‘ A daintie stately parke, wherein I saw wild bulls and
kine, w™ had two calves rufiers. There are about twenty
wild beasts, all white, will not endure yo" approach;
butt if they bee enraged or distressed verye violent and
furious, their calves will bee wonderous fatt.” This
herd was probably destroyed during the civil war which
speedily followed. Anciently the parks and forests
which belonged to the Bishops of Durham were still
more numerous and extensive, so that there can be little
doubt that from some of these forests, which principally
bordered on the great mountain chain, these Bishop
Auckland ‘“ wild bulls and kine” were at first obtained.
Here, among the wilds close to both Cumberland and

* Sir William Brereton was of an old Cheshire family, related to that
of Sir Philip de M. Grey-Egerton, to whom this MS. belongs. It has been
published in the Annals and Magazine of Nat. Hist., vol. iii., 1839, and
also as the first vol. of the Cheetham Society’s Publications, 1844.

90 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Northumberland, the Bishops of Durham had, even so
late as the time of Leland, a very large park. He
says :—“‘ The Bishop of Duresme hath a praty square
pile on the north syde of Were ryver, caulled the
Westgate ; and thereby is a parke, rudely enclosed with
stone, of 12 or 14 miles in compace. It is XII.* miles
in Weredale from Akeland Castelle.” In earlier times
all the country round was one vast forest, including
within it moor and mountain. “ Here the bishops held
their great forest hunt, and had their master of the
forest, bow-bearers, and park and pale keepers, with
other officers, resident in this building.” + “They
exercised in this forest all the royal privileges that the
king did in any of the Crown forests.” Numerous
lands were held of the bishop by the service of “at-
tending the lord with one or more greyhounds in his
forest hunt in the great chase in Weardale.”
Running high up into the same range of hills and
at its farther end, quite contiguous to the bishop’s
Forest of Weardale, was the great baronial Forest of
Teesdale, which, following the course of the Tees, and
containing at its lower extremity the Chase or Forest of
Marwood, extended to Barnard Castle. ‘That castle,
with these its hunting grounds, belonged successively
to the Baliols, afterwards raised to the Scottish throne,
and subsequently to the Beauchamps and the Nevills,
Earls of Warwick. By the marriage of the daughter
and co-heiress of Richard Nevill, Harl of Warwick, the
King-maker, in 1471, with Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
afterwards Richard III., it became the property and

* Leland was mistaken about the distance; this park was about twenty
miles from Bishop Auckland.
+ “History of the County of Durham: ” Leeds Mercwry Office, 1828.

MEANING OF “WILD BEASTS.” 91

favourite residence of that prince until he ascended the
throne; at his death it reverted to the Crown. ‘There
can be no doubt that during the whole of this period
the wild cattle lived and were hunted in that grand
demesne, for nearly 150 years later they existed there
still. “King Charles I., in the second year of his
reign, by his grant, dated 14th March, 1626, in con-
sideration of a considerable sum of money, granted to
Samuel Cordwell and Henry Dingley, in trust for Sir
Henry Vane, the reversion of the assigned premises
(Barnard Castle, with its parks), together with all deer
and wild cattle in the said parks.” *

Tt is only by some accidental allusion like this that
we, in some few cases, get a clue. In most cases, con-
veyances or grants of parks, forests, and estates were
made without specifying what they contained. The
terms used were, ‘‘cum pertinentiis,’ or “cum omnibus
pertinentiis suis,’ with all their appurtenances, or
sometimes “ cum feris,” with their wild beasts—a con-
fusing term, because if it stands alone it includes every
kind of wild animal: though where deer are first
mentioned and wild beasts follow, wild cattle are at
least generally meant. I am not, however, sure that
this is the case when the document is in Latin and the
word “‘ferze’’ is used, for it includes all wild animals;
while the term “beast” is, even in the present day, in
common parlance, specially applied to the ox tribe; and
in many places far remote from each other, + two and

* Hutchinson’s “ Durham,” 1794, vol. iii., p. 245.

+ The wild cattle were called “ wild beasts” at Ewelme, in Oxfordshire,
in 1627, and perhaps before ; at Chartley, in Staffordshire, in 1581, in 1600,
and in 1658; at Bishop Auckland, in Durham, in 1635; and at Chillingham,
in Northumberland, in 1692. In all these cases it was their distinctive and
unmistakable name.

92 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

3)

three hundred years since, “wild beasts” was the
distinctive name by which the wild cattle were pecu-
harly known. But with regard to such parks as those
of Brancepeth, of Streattam Castle, the ancient seat of
the Bowes family, and only three miles from Barnard
Castle, and, above all, of Raby Castle, about six miles
distant from it, we have no information whatever as to
what wild animals they contained in ancient times.
We may suspect, indeed—and as regards Raby at least,
there is some ground for our suspicions. It was the
great feudal residence of the head of the Nevills, the
powerful Earl of Westmoreland, to a branch of which
family, at one time, Barnard Castle belonged; and here,
it is said, assembled at once seven hundred knights,
who held of that princely family. We may be quite
sure that no wild animal worth keeping would be absent
from their parks and chases. A singular circumstance,
too, corroborates this opinion, for the house of Nevill
has borne as its crest for at least 650 years Britain’s
white wild bull, “argent, pied sable.” This crest is,
indeed, as borne by the Marquis of Abergavenny, the
male head of the family, heraldically speaking, “ dis-
tinguished :” 7.e., collared, armed, and chained, gold;
but these must be modern additions, for the old Nevill
crest seems to have been, like the De Hoghton one, the
pure and unadulterated wild bull.* In Hutchinson’s
“Durham ”’ there is given an engraving of a carving in
stone, still existing at Raby Castle, which represents
the Nevill bull holding a standard charged with the
Nevill arms. It must be very ancient—I think 400

* The Karl of Westmoreland and Lord Braybrooke, both descended

from the Nevills through the female line, bear respectively as their crests
the white bull’s head and the white bull, spotted, no doubt as a difference.

THE CATTLE OF BHARPARK. 93

years old or more—for neither the bull nor the coat of
arms is charged with the rose, which they acquired
during the wars of the Roses. It is very well executed,
and appears to be engraved from life, for the horns most
strikingly resemble those of the Chillingham bulls.*

Before I leave this county of the wild cattle I
must briefly allude to the beautiful park of the priors of
the Monastery of Durham, Beaurepaire—vulgarly, Bear-
park—two miles north-west of that city. Prior Hugh,
of Derlyngton, by license from the bishop, enclosed a
park here between 1258 and 1274, evidently for the
purpose of keeping wild animals, for we are told that
Bishop Beke, during his quarrel with the convent,
broke down the fences and drove out the game. In
1311, Bishop Kellawe, however, granted license to Prior
Tanfield to enlarge the park; but in 1315 the Scottish, m
their successful irruption into the bishopric, destroyed
almost the whole stock and store of game and cattle.
The probability is that, as the park was evidently used
for hunting purposes, these cattle were wild.

When we get farther north and enter Northumber-
land, we find the wild cattle retained for ages in the
park of the Earl of Tankerville, where they still exist
in great perfection. No exact date can be given when
this park was first enclosed; but the cattle here were,

* The Duke of Cleveland, the present possessor of Raby (whose
grandfather, Henry second, Harl of Darlington, was, in the middle of the
last century, long before the times of the Collings, one of the first and
most celebrated improvers of the Durham cattle—several of the fine oxen he
fed being mentioned by Arthur Young in the “‘ Annals of Agriculture ”’), ina
letter to me, dated January 17th, 1875, expresses his belief in the proba-
bility of the white wild cattle having formerly existed at Raby, though
itis ‘‘ not recorded,” and in the opinion “that the breed of Durham Short-
horns is derived from a cross of the white cattle.”

+ Surtees’s “ Durham,” vol. ii., p. 373.

94. WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

like the Scottish ones, beyond doubt, denizens of that
great chain of hills and forests to which Chillingham is
close. Its park is an outlying spur from the Cheviot
Hills,* and its “Great Wood,’ which formerly existed,
was connected with the Scottish forests, only a few miles
distant, whose ancient wild inhabitants have been found
buried in a moss in the valley of the Till, just below
Chillingham. These cattle existed in this park in the
days of its ancient owners, the great northern barons,
the Lords Grey of Wark, and were then called “ wild
beasts.” A full account of the herd, as it is at present,
will be given further on.

Contiguous to Chillingham is the extensive parish
of Chatton, a place formerly of considerable importance ;
for here King Edward I. had a royal residence, where
he frequently resided during the years 129] and 1292,
because, being near the Borders, it was so conveniently
situated for secretly influencing the deliberations of the
Scottish Parliament on the claims of the competitors to
the throne of Scotland. ‘‘ Chatton Moor” comes up to
Chillingham Park; and here, a.p. 1292, or before,
Edward I., for the purpose of sporting, detached from
the barony of Alnwick, disafforested, and made into a
park called “ Kelsowe,” about 200 acres of land. This
is proved from an inquiry before the justices in Eyre,
A.D. 1292, when William de Vesci, Baron of Alnwick,
claimed all the privileges his ancestors had possessed,
“eacepting in about two hundred acres of wood and moor,
in Chattone, which were within the forest, but after-

* Leland does not seem to have entered Northumberland itself ; but he
had heard of the wildness of this part of it, remarking: “In Northumber-
land, as I heare say, be no forests except Chivet [Cheviot] Hills, and there
is great plenty of redde deare and roo bukkes.”—“ Itinerary.”

CHATTON AND CHILLINGHAM. 95

wards by the present lord king were disafforested, and in
these he claimed not chase and warren.’ * This park
existed in the year 1368, for it appears, from an in-
quisition taken in the forty-second year of Edward III,
that ‘a park with wild animals, called ‘ Kelsowe, is of
no value beyond the maintenance of the wild animals.”
It is considered to be very probable that the whole or
part of this park, with the “ wild animals” it contained,
has since been taken into the park at Chillingham; for
“in 1634 the tenants of Chatton complained of Sir
Ralph Grey, of Chillmgham, taking land of Chatton
without right, and enclosing from Chatton Common.
This encroachment may refer to the enclosure made by
the park wall of Chillingham, which projects with
an elbow into Chatton Moor on the west. ‘ Robin |
Hood’s Bog,’ to which, when disturbed, the wild cattle
habitually resort, and to which tradition points as their
pristine habitat, is at the extreme elbow of this con-
jectural intake.” This curious coincidence of circum-
stances seems to make it very probable that the ‘ wild
animals” of the royal park of Chatton at the close of
the fourteenth century were, in part at least, the an-
cestors of the “ wild beasts” still kept at Chillingham
at the end of the nineteenth.

In the north of Cumberland, surrounded by ancient
forests, fells, moors, and wastes, which extend from
thence to Chillmgham, and continuously through
Southern Scotland, lies the well-known border-fortress

* Tate’s “ History of Alnwick,” vol. i., p. 94. For the whole of this
information, and all the following quotations, I am indebted to a learned
pamphlet, full of references to ancient authorities, entitled “Notes on
Chatton,” by the Rev. William Procter and Mr. James Hardy, which has been
kindly given to me by the Rev. Henry Edward Bell, Vicar of that parish.

96 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

of Naworth Castle, once the stronghold of those re-
doubted barons, the Lords Dacre of Gillesland; then
the residence of their heir by marriage, Lord Wiliam
Howard, too well known to the Scottish moss-troopers
under the soubriquet of “ Belted Will;” and lastly, of
his descendants, the Earls of Carlisle. In this wild
neighbourhood, to perhaps a later period than anywhere
else in England, the wild cattle roamed at large un-
reclaimed, though protected, no doubt, by their all-
powerful owners. A MS.* and anonymous History of
Cumberland, known, however, to have been written
about the year 1675 by Edmund Sandford, of an old
Cumberland family, and preserved in the library of the
Dean and Chapter of Carlisle, tells us that around
Naworth formerly were “‘ pleasant woods and gardens ;
ground full of fallow dear, feeding on all somer tyme;
braue venison pasties and great store of reed deer on
the mountains; and white wild cattel, with blak ears
only, on the moores; and blak heath-cockes, and brone
more-cockes, and their pootes.” I presume that these
“white wild cattel’’ had been destroyed during the
civil wars, from thirty to forty years before. The
writer was evidently well acquainted with their colour
and with the localities they frequented.

It would perhaps seem natural, now that we have
arrived at the Borders, to cross over and give a similar
historical account of the kindred race of Scottish wild
cattle. But before I do so I wish to point out to the
reader that the numerous wild herds, of whose ancient

* This MS. is quoted by Jefferson in his “ History and Antiquities of
Cumberland,” 1840; and also by William Dickinson in his Prize Essay,
“On the Farming of Cumberland,” Journ. Royal Agric. Soc., vol. xiii.,
1852. Both writers appear to have had access to it.

RECENTLY EXTINCT HERDS. 97

existence so much evidence has been given, were all
confined to the regions of the English Apennines or
of the great forests and wastes bordering thereupon.
With the exception of some trifling differences—the
most important of which is that some of them were
horned, some polled or hornless—they were everywhere,
in colour and in form, alike: one race, and all wild.
But besides these, there were in England a few parks,
remote from this great chain of central mountains, in
which this same white wild breed were formerly kept,
and there are also a few well authenticated instances
of ancient domestic cattle strongly resembling them.
These it seems desirable to mention before we go on
to narrate the ancient history of the Scottish wild cattle.
I feel little doubt that in the instances I am about to
give—as I shall be able to show hereafter was the case
with Lord Suffield’s herd in Norfolk—these were off-
shoots of the great forest breed, introduced from a
distance, and from places near to the aboriginal domi-
cile of the race.

The first herd of this description I wish to name
is the one—extinct towards the close of the last
century—in the park at Burton Constable, half-way
between Hull and the east coast.of Yorkshire, of which,
as some description of them can be given, a more full
account will appear in its proper place.

There was formerly another such herd in a park at
Holdenby, ten miles north-east from Daventry and six
and a half north-west from Northampton, in _ that
county. Though the park here was licensed to be
imparked in 1578, it was certainly much enlarged when
King James I. purchased of Sir Christopher Hatton the
whole estate, and made here a royal residence in 1606 ;

H

98 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

for in 1608 it was ‘‘ impaled,” 1097. 10s. 6d. being
allowed in the king’s “ extraordinary ” accounts for that
purpose. Holdenby was seized during the civil war,
with other demesnes of the crown, and granted by the
Parliament to Thomas, Lord Grey, of Groby, who
sold it to Adam Baynes, of Knowsthorp, in Yorkshire,
captain, and M.P. for Leeds. He destroyed the park
and pulled the mansion down in the year 1650. At
the time of the sale the park contained 500qa. 17., and
was “stocked with upwards of 200 deer of different
kinds, worth 200/.; and 11 cows and calves of wild
cattle, worth 42/.”* The passage means, I suppose,
eleven cows, Jesides their calves; even then their value,
relatively to that of the deer, seems high. It appears to
me nearly certain that they were introduced here by
Kang James I. himself, who made the place. He was
passionately fond of hunting, and being so, we may well
believe that he felt an attachment to the ancient wild
breed which existed also in his own native country.

It is rather singular that another of these few re-
corded instances of parks containing wild cattle remote
from their native district, should also have been a royal
demesne, and have passed through the hands of James I.
Kwelme, in South Oxfordshire, near to Wallingford, in
Berkshire, belonged to the De la Poles, Dukes of
Suffolk, but, reverting to the Crown, Edward Ashfield
was appointed by King Henry VIII., in 1536, “‘ Keeper
of the Park of Ewelme and Master of the Wild Beasts
there.” In 1551-2 King Edward VI. conveyed the
manor and park to his sister, the Princess Elizabeth,
for life. In 1609 Lord William Knollys was ‘“ Keeper
of the Park and Master of the Wild Beasts in the

* Baker’s ‘ History of Northamptonshire,” 1822, vol. i., p. 197.

RECENTLY EXTINOT HERDS. 99

same” for King James. “On the 21st March, 1627,
King Charles I., by letters patent, conveyed to Sir
Christopher Nevil, K.B., and Sir Edmund Sawyer, their
heirs and assigns, for ever, in consideration of the sum
of 4,300/., all that park called Ewelme Park, containing
895 acres, which was part of the manor of Hwelme;
also six acres, four of which were in a place called
Haseley, and two in a place called Ellesmere, the Keeper
of the Park having heretofore been accustomed to save
the hay thereof for the deer and wild beasts in the said
park, to be held subject to a rent of 60/. per annum.
Hwelme Park was probably disparked at this period.” *
Mr. Shirley, a great authority on such questions, agrees”
with me in considering it certain that, whether or no
on the two first occasions named above, “wild beasts”
meant deer alone or included wild cattle also, in the last
mention of them as “deer and wild beasts” wild cattle
alone were intended to be meant: they alone, besides
deer, of any animals which could be called “ wild beasts,”
requiring hay, and that being the technical name by
which they were designated in other parks at the same
period. It is remarkable that this conveyance was made
exactly two years after the death of King James I.,
so that these wild cattle must have been here in his
lifetime, and may have been introduced by him, as they
almost certainly were into his park at Holdenby.
Another wild herd, supposed to have been an ancient
one, existed formerly in the park of Leigh Court, in
Somersetshire, close to Bristol, and now the residence
of Sir William Miles, Bart. It was purchased by his

* Shirley’s “ Deer Parks, chap. vi., p. 137; quoting the Hon. and Rev.
Alfred Napier’s “ Historical Notices of Swyncombe and Ewelme,” 4to,
Oxford, 1858.

H 2

100 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

father, in the year 1808, from the heirs of Lady Nor-
ton; but two years previously, in 1806, the wild cattle
had “become so savage that the owner was obliged to
have them all shot.” * This park anciently belonged to
the Augustinian canons of Bristol; it was formerly
magnificently wooded with ancient timber, which was
cut down before the late Mr. Miles purchased it. The
following is Sir William’s description of its cattle :—

“ My recollection of the wild cattle 2s from hearsay.
My father concluded the purchase of Leigh in 1808.
At the time the cattle were destroyed Lady Norton
lived at the Old House, then existing; and left Mr.
Trenchard executor.

“T think I must have seen them myself—my re-
collection of their deportment is so vivid. ‘Their colour
fawn, tending to yellow; very red towards the flanks ;
horns tipped with black; hoofs black; inside of the ear
red. ‘They were constantly fighting, and ready to attack
anything which came across them.” +

It is very probable that Sir William Miles did see
and recollect them, for he was nine years old at least,
perhaps half a year older, when these cattle were extir-
pated. He lived in the neighbourhood at the time,
and at Leigh Court itself soon afterwards, so that his
own boyish recollections must have been constantly
refreshed by the memory of others; and his account is so
circumstantial that it bears the strongest impress of
reality. Still, it is night to add that the old bailiff at
Leigh Court says “‘that his mother-in-law, he remembers,

* Shirley's “Deer Parks,” chap. iv., p. 99; this information being de-
rived from Sir W. Miles, Bart.

+ The account of Sir William Miles was obtained for me by Mrs.

Robert Miles, of Bingham, who also sent me the bailiff’s statement made
to Mr. John Miles.

RECENTLY EXTINCT HERDS. 101

used to speak about them, and he feels pretty sure she
described them as white.” I think it very probable
that both statements are correct, and that they varied
from a white colour to a light dun.

At present we have no clue to the origin of these
Leigh Park cattle. I think it most probable that they
‘date back to monastic times, and that the variation in
colour was possibly produced by some cross. The dis-
covery of their existence is an interesting circumstance,
for it is the only instance yet known of a wild herd
inhabiting the West of England; and this herd was
clearly very wild.

CHAPTER V.

Ancient Domestic Races of White Cattle in England and Wales—Notices of
them scarce, and not found as expected in Records of the Monasteries—
Custom at Knightlow Cross—Coincidence of this Custom with the Local
Legend of the Wild Cow of Dunsmore Heath—White Cattle in Wales and
especially in Pembroke—Notices of them in Ancient Welsh Laws—Four
Hundred presented to the Queen of King John—Distinctness from other
Welsh Cattle—Herd at Vale Royal—Ballad of “ Hughie the Greme”—
The Lyrick Herd.

Havine thus taken, so far as England is concerned, a
somewhat extended view of the White Forest Breed as
it existed in ages past, wild as any beast of chase in
forest and in park ; and shown the strong historical facts
which everywhere demonstrate, in central and northern
England, its continuance from a very early period to our
own time; I propose to devote a few pages to the his-
torical notices we possess of a tame domesticated race of
white cattle which seems to have also prevailed from a
very early period in some parts of England, which was
perhaps nearly allied to the wild breed, and which so
nearly resembled it in colour and in other respects that
it has been generally considered identical with it. I
must, however, caution the reader against forming too
sudden and unsupported a decision on this point. I
began this investigation with a strong impression that
I should find this tame white race numerous and far
extended, which has not been the case. While many
fresh instances of the former existence of the wild breed
were continually presenting themselves, the notices of
the tame breed did not, on further inquiry, become

CUSTOM OF KNIGHTLOW CROSS. 103

more frequent. I have been unable to find any, as I
expected to do, in the records of the monasteries: those
white cattle which ecclesiastics possessed previously to
the dissolution appearing to be, in the few instances
where facts can be ascertained—as in the parks of the
Bishop of Durham and the Abbot of Whalley—wild
ones ; thus confirming the statement of Professor Low *
with regard to the Scottish monastic bodies. Of course,
their domestic herds were numerous and valuable, but I
have as yet been unable to ascertain that they were
white. ‘The instances of white domestic cattle are com-
paratively few, and confined to a few localities, and these
principally south of the Trent; while there is at present
no well authenticated instance of a wild white herd
being for any length of time in existence south of that
river, and only one or two parks where they were kept
at all, while to one of these they were certainly intro-
duced at a late period. Further discoveries may
strengthen or weaken this opinion, but so the case
stands at present. ;
Perhaps the only evidence we have of a domestic
white breed allied to the wild in central England in
early times, Is derived from a singular custom still
remaining in force in Warwickshire, and called “ The
Custom of Knightlow Cross.” At the northern ex-
tremity of the village of Stretton-on-Dunsmore, near
Dunchurch, stands in a field a stone, which is the
mortice-stone of the ancient Cross of Knightlow. On
this spot, every year, on the llth of November,
St. Martin’s Day, there takes place an ancient ceremony,
which is said to date from a period anterior to the
Norman Conquest. ‘This custom is the payment to

* “ Domesticated Animals,” chap. iii., p. 235.

104 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

the Lord of the Hundred of Knightlow of ‘“ Wroth or
Ward Money,” otherwise called ‘Swart Money.” The
villagers, and those who owe suit and service, attend ;
the steward of the Lord of the Hundred, now the Duke
of Buccleuch and Queensberry, reads the names of the
parishes and persons liable, and gives notice requiring
payment, proclaiming that in default of payment the
forfeit will be “twenty shillings for every penny, and a
white bull with red ears anda red nose.” There is a
tradition in the neighbourhood of the forfeiture of
a white bull having been demanded and actually made,
but of late years the pecuniary part of the forfeit only
has been exacted.* I think it ought to be observed that
this proof of the existence formerly of the domesticated
white bull with red ears—for tame this animal must have
been—one quite unique as regards central England, is
found at Stretton-upon-Dunsmore ; the very place where,
in Saxon times, Guy Earl of Warwick was supposed to
have killed the wild “cow of Dunsmore Heath,” and
that the custom dates from Saxon times too. My idea
is that the two circumstances possibly tend to throw
light upon and to corroborate each other. ‘The domestic
white bulls with red ears in that neighbourhood are not
unlikely to have derived their descent, at least in some
measure, and their peculiarities of colour, from the wild
white forest breed which inhabited it, and of which
Sir Guy's cow was one. Many such instances shall we
see, as we proceed, of domestic cattle springing from
this source.

* This statement is principally taken from an account of the custom
given in the Graphic newspaper of December 19th, 1874; but every par-
ticular has been confirmed by the information I have received from credible
persons living in the neighbourhood, which is only a few miles distant
from the place where I now write.

THE PEMBROKE CATTLE. 105

The next, and by far the strongest instance of an
ancient white race of domestic cattle, comes from Wales ;
and it seems such cattle were much more common than
elsewhere in Wales in the county of Pembroke. “It
appears,” says Professor Low, ‘from various notices,
that a race of cattle similar to that which we now find
at Chillimgham Park and elsewhere existed in Wales

in the twelfth century. . . The individuals of this
race yet existing in Wales are found chiefly in the
county of Pembroke. . . Until a comparatively re-

cent period they were very numerous; and persons are
yet livmg who remember when they were driven in
droves to the pastures of the Severn and the neigh-
bouring markets.” Notwithstanding every discourage-
ment—black being uniformly preferred by the breeders—
this white colour sometimes breaks out in the cattle of
that neighbourhood, and I have examined several single
white ones which have come down with large herds of
black ones from Pembrokeshire for the Northampton-
shire graziers. Some of these have a certain quantity of
black upon them, but some are nearly pure white, with
black ears, muzzle, eyes, tips of the horns and hoofs ;
and they have generally some strongly-marked small
black spots on the head, neck, and body; they have
not now, as formerly, red ears. ‘They strongly resemble
the wild cow (those I have seen have been heifers)
in colour, but not at all in form, having reverted
to the ancient type in colour only. No one who had
seen the Chillmgham or Chartley cows could detect any
resemblance, except in colour, and partially only in the
growth of the horns; in other respects they were
unmistakably Welsh.

“The earliest record of the Welsh white cattle with

106 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

red ears is to be found in the Venedotian code of laws,
ascribed to Howel Dha, and which is probably of the
tenth or perhaps of the eleventh century, the usage
implied by the laws being no doubt much older than the
codification. ‘The fine to be paid for injury done to
the King of Aberfraw is a hundred cows for each
hundred townships, and ‘a white bull with red ears to
each hundred cows.’ In the later Dimetian code the
Lord of Dynevwr is to have for the infrmgement of his
prerogative ‘as many white cattle with red ears as
shall extend in close succession from Argoel to the
Palace of Dynevwr, with a bull of the same colour with
each score of them.’ In the still later Latin trans-
lation of the Welsh laws, one hundred white cows with
red ears were considered equivalent to a hundred and
fifty black cattle. The specification of white with red
ears in these passages is considered by Mr. Youatt and
Mr. Darwin* to denote merely a difference of colour, and
not of breed. From its continual occurrence, however,
and from its agreement with the Chillingham ox, there
can be little doubt that it denotes a difference of breed ;
and this conclusion is rendered almost certain when we
consider that the size of the Chillingham ox is about
one-third greater than that of the black Welsh and
dark-coloured Highland cattle, the ratio between them
being the same as that between the hundred. white
cattle and the hundred and fifty black of the ‘ Leges
Wallie.’” + In this last opinion I entirely concur.

* Youatt’s “Cattle,” p. 48; Darwin’s “ Animals and Plants,” vol. ii.,
chap. xx., p. 209.

+ The above statements have been often made, and the quotations in
Latin might be given, as they have been by Dr. Smith, V.P.S.A., Scotland,
in their “ Transactions,” vol. ix., pp. 608, 609; but I have preferred to

WELSH WHITE CATTLE. 107

The Welsh white cattle with red ears were brought
into further notoriety by the present of 400 such cows
and one bull which Maude de Brense made to the queen
of King John, in order to purchase peace for her offend-
ing lord. Speed has been mentioned as the authority for
this statement; the real authority is Hollinshed, in whose
Chronicles it is said :—“Anno 1211. We read in an old
historie of Flanders, written by one whose name was
not known, but printed at Lions by Guillaume Rouille,
in the year 1562, that the said ladie, wife to the Lord
William de Brense, presented upon a time unto the
Queene of England a gift of foure hundred kine and one
bull, of coulour all white, the eares excepted, which were
red. Although this tale may seem incredible, yet if we
shall consider that the said Brense was a Lord Marcher,
and had good possessions in Wales and on the marshes,
in which countries the most part of the peoples’ sub-
stance consisteth in cattell, it may carry with it the
more likelihood of truth.” * I have been fortunate
enough to discover the work referred to by Hollinshed
as his authority :—“Chronique de Flanders, ancienne-
ment composee par Auteur Incertain, et nouvellement
mise en lumiere par Denis Sauvage de Fontenailles en
Brie, Historiographe due Tres-chrestien Roy Henry,
second de ce nom. A Lyon, par Guillaume Rouille, a
Vexen de Venise—M.D.LXII.” The editor says, in

give this very clear and condensed account, taken from an unpublished
paper of Mr. Boyd Dawkins, which he has kindly placed at my disposal.
Youatt further states that, “when the Cambrian princes did homage to
the King of England, the same number of cattle and of the same de-
scription were rendered in acknowledgment of sovereignty;” but no
authority is given for this statement.

* Raphael Hollinshed: “Chronicles,” 1586 (first published 1577),
vol. iii., p. 174.

108 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

his address to the readers, that he discovered this
“Chronicle” in the library of an ancient house in
the County of Burgundy, belonging to ‘‘ Monsieur
Charles de Poupet, Chevalier et Signeur de la Chause,
Crévecceur, Roiches, Bayune, et Melaree,’ who was
high in office successively at the court of Charles VIII.
of France, Don Philip of Castile, and of the Emperor
Charles V. It was written “en feuilles de parchemin,
et de gros papier entremeslés, monstre une lettre assez
antique,’ and without the author’s name. Monsieur
Sauvage softened down “rude” expressions, and changed
ancient phrases and forms of speaking. ‘The passage
referred to is given in a note below, * and exactly con-
firms the statement of Hollinshed. This work seems to
have been considered of considerable authority, and to
have been used by Froissart and others.

Before I close this brief history of the ancient white
cattle with red ears of Wales, I will make one or two
remarks upon it. The notices of them seem to show
that the localities they inhabited were principally the

* “Chronique de Flandres,” chap. xvii.,p. 42. In this chapter, relating
principally to King John, the author, after stating that the king had
wished to appoint an Archbishop of Canterbury contrary to the liberty of
the Church, and that his land (“terre”) was put under an interdict, thus
proceeds :—

“Dedans cest entredit, vindrét nouvelles au Roy Jehan, que ceux
d’Yrlande estoient rebellés: dont incontinent appareilla sa nauire, pour
aler en Yrlande. Mais aincois ala sur un haut home des marches des
Galles, qu’on appeloit Guillaume de Briuse. La femme de celui fert une
fois present 4 la Royne de quatre-cent vaches, et un taureau: qui toutes
estoient blanches, fors leurs oreilles : qui estoient rouges.”

This present was unfortunately of little use; and eventually, the
husband being in France, “Mahaut sa femme ” fled, with her son William,
to the castle of her father, William de Blaney, in Ireland. This the king
stormed ; and though she and her son escaped at first to the Isle of Man,
they were taken, and brutally starved to death in Windsor Castle, where
they were confined.

THH TWO WELSH BREEDS. 109

lower sea-lying parts of the counties of Pembroke and
Carmarthen, in which last “ Dynevwr ” is situated; on
the borders of the Bristol Channel; and also the extreme
northern parts of the country, on the coasts of the
Irish Sea, opposite to Anglesea, where was Aberfraw.
We have no reason to believe, from the historical
notices we have, that they occupied the intermediate, far
larger, and more mountainous part of Wales. On the
contrary, the smaller black breed, the native cattle of
Wales, possessed the country as a whole, and has finally
exterminated the others. In South Wales it is remark-
able that the white cattle seem to have been primarily
derived from the neighbourhood of its most westerly
point; there they held their ground the longest, especially
in the country round Pembroke, Haverfordwest, and
Milford Haven, the extreme point of South Wales. It
is singular, too, that even now great osteologists, like
Riitimeyer, consider the Pembroke cattle descendants
of the Bos primigenius, while they class the other Welsh
cattle as representatives of the Jongifrons. The same is
true of the northern branch of this white race. The
kingdom of Aberfraw was close to Anglesea, and pro-
bably included it, and the cattle of Anglesea were more
nearly allied to, and more closely resembled, those of
Pembroke than any others in Wales. One of two things
we must, I think, suppose: either these white domes-
ticated cattle found their way into Wales by the cele-
brated port of Milford Haven, used in every age as a
port of importation, and by the ports of North Wales;
or they are connected with British Druidism, whose last
strongholds were Pembrokeshire and Anglesea; or they
owe their origin to both causes combined. One thing
seems to me most apparent: that they were not derived

110 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

from England, and had no connection, except such as
the Hungarian or Tuscan cattle had, with the British
wild cattle—namely, descent in remote ages from a
common source. I cannot conceive, as some have done,
the possibility of the Brit-Welsh being willing, or even
able, to accumulate during ages of internecine war
large herds of a breed of cattle obtaimed from their
most deadly and generally victorious enemies, the
Anglo-Saxons. And the improbability of such a thing
seems reduced to a certainty of its being impossible
when we consider, first, that these cattle have always
been most prevalent in those parts of Wales which were
the farthest removed from England; and then, that
though the Anglo-Saxon cattle were, with certain modi-
fications, very probably descended from the Urus, we
have no reason to suppose that they were generally
white, but quite the contrary: the only accredited
instance, I believe, of the Anglo-Saxons possessing
domestic cattle of this colour, as a race, being the
“Custom of Knightlow Cross,” to which I have just
alluded. ‘The true solution seems to be that the Welsh
white cattle with red ears, both in North and South
Wales, whatever was their pristine origin, appeared first
in the extremest parts of both, multiplied by degrees,
and finally extended along the sea-coasts and the river-
valleys, though only to a limited extent, into some of
the neighbouring English counties.

One such herd, possibly derived from this source,
existed until lately at Vale Royal, on the westerly side
of Cheshire, half-way between Northwich and the Forest
of Delamere, which, in the time of Leland, abounded
with deer. This was formerly a monastic house of con-
siderable importance, and was granted, in the thirty-

THE VALH ROYAL HERD. i

third year of King Henry VIII., to Sir Thomas Hol-
croft; in whose family it continued for two generations,
till purchased in 1616 by Lady Cholmondeley, called by
King James, who visited her here in 1617, “the bold
ladie of Cheshire,” and in the possession of whose
descendants, the Lords Delamere, it still remains. Here
was an ancient domestic herd of white cattle with red
ears, which, though now crossed out and extinct, was.
kept up, partially pure only, in the time of the late
lord. They are supposed to have belonged to the
Abbey ; and a singular tradition, the truth of which
the late Lady Delamere believed she had verified, was
prevalent, to the effect that some of Cromwell’s troopers
drove off most of them, but that one cow, after being
driven with the rest seven or eight miles, escaped from
them and returned home. ‘They were white with red
ears, and were in all probability derived from North
Wales, as from thence the original monks of Vale Royal
came.

There is one singular case of a white domestic breed
in the eastern part of England, but it is a comparatively
modern one, and nothing can be discovered respecting
its origin or antiquity.

Professor Low mentions that, when he wrote, cattle
of this sort were “in considerable numbers between
Stafford and Lichfield.” And he says * “they were here
destitute of horns, in which respect they resembled those
which were kept at Ribblesdale’”—Gisburne Park, I
presume, is meant. ‘The only authentication of this I
have been abie to procure is that, a good many years
since, white cattle with small snags, which could
scarcely be called horns, were very occasionally brought

* “© Domesticated Animals,” chap. iii., p. 296.

112 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

from that district to some of the Midland fairs. Low
says “they were of good size, and valued by the farmers
as dairy cows.” They probably derived their colour
either from some remote cross of the wild blood, once
abundant in that neighbourhood, or by descent from
some importation into those parts of the Welsh white
tame race.

I have already alluded to the “White Breed” of the
Aislabies, of Studley Royal, near Ripon. Great as was
the effect of this herd upon the domestic cattle of the
country, nothing whatever has been yet ascertained with
regard to its origin. I shall mention one circumstance,
which shows the connection formerly existing between
the families of Studley Royal and Chillingham, in the
hope that it may, some day or other, lead to some clue.
When King George J. ascended the throne in the spring
of 1714, Lord Ossulston (who, in right of his wife, the
heiress of the Greys of Wark, had recently inherited
Chillingham) and John Aislabie, Esq., of Studley Royal,
were both strong and influential Whigs. Mr. Aislabie
was made Chancellor of the Exchequer; Lord Ossulston
was raised, at the coronation, to the Earldom of Tanker-
ville. A few years later the friendship of the families
was further strengthened by the marriage of Mr.
Aislabie’s son and heir with the only daughter of the
sixth Earl of Exeter, whose first wife (by whom he had
no children) was the sister of the same Lord Ossulston.*
In any future inquiry with regard to the breeding of
the Studley white herd, I think it very desirable that
the connection and probable intimacy of the Aislabies

* The above particulars are taken from Arthur Collins’ “ Peerage,”
vol. iii., 1768.

HUGHIE THE GRAME. 113

with the proprietors of the Chillgham wild cattle
should not be forgotten.

The only two other instances I have been able to
obtain of ancient breeds of domesticated white cattle in
England have both reference to Cumberland, and I
suspect that in both the wild cattle have something to
do with their origin. The following quotations from
the old ballad of ‘‘ Hughie the Greme,” * show pretty
clearly the value placed upon “‘whzte stots” (young oxen)
in the North at that time :—

Stanza I.

“ Our lords are to the mountains gane,
A hunting o’ the fallow deer,
And they hae grippit Hughie Greme
For stealing o’ the bishop’s mare.”

Sranza LV.

“Up then bespake the brave Whitefoord,

As he sat by the bishop’s knee,
‘Five hundred white stots Pll gie you,
If yell let Hughie Greme gae free.’”

The bishop refuses, and declares Hughie Graeme
shall die; upon which Whitefoord’s wife pleads with
the bishop :—

“Up then bespake the fair Whitefoord,
As she sat by the bishop’s knee,

‘Five hundred white pence I'll gie you,
If ye’ll gie Hughie Graeme to me.’”

The bishop still refused, and Hughie was hanged.
Many original copies of this ballad existed, some in

* “ Songs and Ballads of Cumberland,”’ edited by Sidney Gilpin, 1866.
I

114 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

black letter.* Sir Walter Scott supposes the date to be
about 1553; he gives another version of the same.
ballad, with several variations, in his “ Border Min-
strelsy.’ The most important of these is that Lord
Hume—who, instead of Whitefoord, entreats, not the
bishop, but the judge, for Hughie Greme’s release—
offers “twenty white owsen ” (oxen), which seems more
probable than “five hundred white stots;” but both
equally prove the existence of such a breed in that
country at that time, and that it was one of superior
value.

Another white Cumberland herd, whose existence may
perhaps throw light on the preceding ballad, remains yet
to be noticed. It has unfortunately altogether disap-
peared; but its cattle must have been splendid animals,
and the following description of them, by one who knew
them well, would lead one strongly to believe that they
had a very large infusion of the wild blood: —‘“The Lyrick
breed, which emanated from the Hall of that name at
the western foot of Skiddaw, were truly a beautiful race,
with fine spreading horns, and nearly pure white, except
the ears and muzzle, which were dark brown, and a few
small dark spots on the sides and legs. When seen in
herds, their lively figure and lofty carriage rendered them
probably as ornamental a kind of cattle as England
produced at the time; but their indifferent milking
qualities hastened their extinction.” fF

* One in the collection of the Duke of Roxburghe; another in the
hands of John Rayne, Esq., from a collation of which the ballad, as given
in Ritson’s “ Ancient Songs,” was taken. Scott’s copy was procured from
his friend, Mr. W. Laidlaw, and had been long current in Selkirkshire. It
was sent, as it here appears, to the “Scot’s Musical Museum” by Burns,
whose version was derived from oral tradition.

+ William Dickinson’s Prize Essay, “On the Farming of Cumberland :”

THE LYRICK HALL HERD. 115

I have since seen a letter from Mr. W. L. Dickinson,
the writer of the above, dated Thorncroft, June 17th,
1876, and addressed to Mr. Jefferson, Preston Hows.
It completely corroborates his previous statement, but
adds little to it. It tells us, however, that ‘“ the Lyrick
Hall herd was a lofty and handsome herd of forty or
fifty head,” and that they had “ a few dark spots on the
fore-legs, mostly below the knee, and a very few on the
sides.” Nothing seems known as to their origin; but
as respecting their extinction, the impossibility of
getting “a change of blood” for them had as much to
do with it as any imperfection in their milking qualities.
They finally got mixed with the Long-horns of the day,
and “ were lost or absorbed.”’ Mr. Dickinson adds :—
“Besides myself, there are very few living who have
seen the Lyrick herd, and it is well on to threescore
years since I enjoyed the sight of it. I do not know
any one likely to give you further information.”

Lyrick Hall is near Keswick, and it appears likely
that its cattle were related to the “‘ white owsen” and
“white stots”? of the Border Ballads, some two cen-
turies and a half before “the Lyricks”’ came to an end.
Fashion had changed in the interval; and the white
cattle, so highly valued at the earlier period, excellent as
they continued to be, were quite undervalued in later
times. Yet here, in the wilds of Cumberland, at the
beginning of this century, still remained a domes-
ticated ox of the Urus type—in colour, style, and lofty
carriage closely resembling the Hungarian—a cultivated

Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of Higland, vol. xiii., p. 250.
H. H. Dixon says, in “Saddle and Sirloin,” chap. iv., p. 92, that their
“smart figure and carriage” rendered them very valuable “for topping
the dealer’s lots.”

1 2

116 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Chillngham ox. What a pity it is that so little is
known of its origi and history, and that no good
pictures of this noble animal have been preserved. Here,
where at last we find the wild and the domestic white
ox blending into one, we appropriately close the general
ancient history of both in England, and, crossing the
Borders, follow them into Scotland.

CHAPTER VI.

The Wild White Cattle in Ancient Scotland—Former Wildness of the Country
—Purity and Trustworthiness of Highland Traditions—Traces of White
Cattle in Local Names—Allusions in Sir Walter Scott’s Works—‘‘ Dun-
craggan’s Milk-white Bull ”—Description by Boethius of the Wild Bull—
The Turnbull Legend—Boethius confirmed by other Testimony on the most
disputed Points—Bellenden and Leslie regarding the Bull’s “ Mane ””—
Localities mentioned by Bishop Leslie—Clear Distinction drawn by him be-
tween the Wild White Cattle and the Kyloe Breed—Discoveries of Bones
of the Urus in Scotland—Their comparatively small Size—Desirability
of further Investigation by Geologists.

Wes cross the Cheviots and enter Scotland—in every age
the land of the bold, the noble, and the free. Its
northern and western mountains held those Picts and
Dalriadian Scots, who, amalgamating, have produced
the modern Highlanders, apt descendants of their
fathers—the men who, when Germany was subdued
and Helvetia enslaved, were the last “champions of
freedom ;”* who resisted the serried masses of the
Roman legions; preserved intact their own mountain
homes; and eventually, assuming the offensive, helped
to drive Rome and its Imperators out of Britain. Such,
in ancient time, was proud and free Caledonia; such
she was in long later ages, when from her southern
provinces, so happily incorporated with her northern,
the Wallace first sprang up; and then the Bruce,
the Douglas, and a host of other heroes, who,

* Tacitus: “Agricola,” chap. xxx., §. 4. Galgacus, when addressing
the Caledonian troops at the foot of the Grampians, says :—‘ Nos ter-
rarum ac libertatis extremos recessus ipse ac sinus fame in hune diem
defendit.”

118 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

supported by chiefs of ancient Pictish and Scottish
blood, finally, after unnumbered reverses, with their
backs to the Highland hills, like their ancestors under
Galgacus, annihilated in the greatest defeat England
ever suffered, her whole power launched against them
on the field of Bannockburn. Such, too, their descen-
dants still remain—bold, vigorous, and free; and
though what Nature required was at last accomplished,
and Great Britam became one kingdom, it was Scotland
that gave her native race of kings to consummate this
happy union.

I have before sketched briefly the extreme wildness
of this country in ancient times. The whole of Scotland,
from north to south, and from east to west, was little
more in ancient days than one continuous wood, so
extensive that, as we have seen, the Caledonian Wood
and the bears it produced were well known at Rome; and
probably all the better, because the Romans were never
able to penetrate into its inmost recesses, and only held
its outskirts partially for a short and inconsiderable
period. Its dales, glens, straths, and carses the Picts
and Scots inhabited ; its inaccessible rocks were their
fortresses, and its interminable forests and wastes their
hunting grounds. The nature of the country they
inhabited may be faintly estimated from two accounts of
two parishes, written by their respective ministers, and
given in Sir John Sinelair’s “‘Statistical Account of
Scotland,” published at the close of the last century.*

* Sir John Sinclair’s ‘“ Statistical Account of Scotland” came out in
periodical volumes, from 1792 to 1801, in which latter year the twenty-one
volumes were completed and published by the Board of Agriculture, of
which Sir John was President. It was drawn up from the communica-
tions of the ministers of the different parishes, but in a few cases the
reports were made by other persons.

WILDNESS OF ANCIENT SCOTLAND. 119

The parish of Laggan (Gn Badenoch, county of Inver-
ness) extends from north-east to south-west, upwards of
twenty miles, but the breadth of the inhabited part is
only about three miles. It is bounded on the north by
“ Monadh-Liadh,” or the Grey Mountain—a prodigious
ridge of inaccessible rocks,—and various rivers, rising in
the Grampians, run through it. Loch Laggan lies on the
south-west extremity of the parish; itis very deep, with
a bold rocky shore, and it is surrounded with woody
mountains. On the south side is the ‘ Coil More,” or
Great Wood, the most considerable relic of the great
Caledonian Forest. This wood, which extends five miles
along the loch side, is the scene of many traditions. At
the east end of the loch are two islands, one of them
much smaller than the other. On the larger are the side
walls still remaining of a very ancient building, made of
common round stones, but cemented with mortar. This
is said to be the place where the kings of the Picts
retired from hunting and feasted on their game. The
neighbouring island, which is called “ Kilean nan Con,”’
or the Island of Dogs, is said to be the place where the
hounds were confined. In the middle of the parish is a
perpendicular rock, upwards of one hundred yards in
height, and most difficult of access, yet with remains of
fortifications upon it ; while in the wood south of the loch
is a place long held sacred, which, it is said,is the burial-
place of seven ancient Caledonian kings. These kings,
tradition says,always came here to hunt with their retinue
and hounds during the greater part of the summer; and
the time assigned is about the period when the Scots
were driven by the Picts beyond the Tay, and had their
seat of government at Dunkeld.

Still larger and as wild is the parish of Kilmonivaig,

120 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

county of Inverness—in length sixty miles, in greatest
breadth twenty. Here was the ancient Castle of Inver-
lochy—in the time of Edward I. occupied by the
Cummings, previously by the Thanes of Lochaber, and
among others by the noted Banquo, and still earlier, it
is said, by the kings of the Scots. In ancient times,
and even till within the eighteenth century, the valley
was covered with wood.*

Farther south still remains ‘‘The Black Wood of
Rannoch” —of fir—another old relic of the great Cale-
donian Wood. But it is useless to multiply examples ;
the wild nature of the country is well known, and the
immense range of its forests is matter of history.
Besides deer and more ordinary game, we know that
they contained in early times the bear; that even so
lately as 1578+ they were full of numerous and most
ferocious wolves; and that in comparatively recent times
the capercailzie,t which requires extensive pine forests
like those of Norway for its subsistence, was also
common. Here too, undoubtedly, during the Middle
Ages, abounded Scotland’s noblest game, the white wild
bull. Whatever may have been the case in Southern
England, here unquestionably he roamed at large and
flourished till comparatively recent times. Possibly
this was his aboriginal home, and he may perhaps by
degrees, when troublous times favoured his migrations,

* The report of the parish of Laggan (“Statistical Account of
Scotland”) was made by the Rev. Mr. James Grant, parish minister.
vol. iii., pp. 145—152; that of Kilmonivaig by Rev. Mr. Thomas Ross,
minister, vol. xvii., pp. 543—550.

+ Bishop Leslie’s “De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus gestis Scotorum,”
published in that year.

+ The capereailzie, having become extinct in Scotland, was successfully

re-introduced from Norway by the late Marquis of Breadalbane, and
naturalised in the woods which surround Taymouth Castle.

VALUH OF SCOTTISH TRADITION. 121

have occupied the still more southern ranges, which we
know he also inhabited; but whether this was so or
not, few persons, I presume, are likely to deny that the |
Hamilton and Chillingham cattle are either his relatives
or descendants. The only question can be his own
extraction. ‘Tradition carries him back to the times of
the Pictish kings; while ancient historians describe him,
though still existing when they wrote, yet as verging
towards extinction, and in olden times much more
numerous. The Vice-President * of the Scottish Society
of Antiquaries admits, led thereto by discoveries made of
late years, that the Urus (Bos primigenius) may have
existed in the North of Scotland for several hundred
years after Christ. So that history and tradition would
seem to unite in carrying the wild bull back to a time
when, in the North of Scotland at least, the Urus may
have been still there, and thus tend to confirm the
general belief that the one is descended from the other
—a belief much strengthened by the osteological ex-
aminations of Professor Riitimeyer and others, and
by the remarkable resemblance the wild cattle bear, as
we have seen, to the Hungarian and other races of
Eastern Europe, the admitted descendants of the
ancient Urus.

And it should be borne in mind that these Scottish
traditions do not represent the fading and changing
memories of some Lowland district, but the recollections of
an ancient and remote mountain race, which until 1745
never was completely conquered, and which had handed
down for centuries, from father to son, its language,
its history, its songs, and its customs. All of these had

* Dr. John Alexander Smith : “Proceed. Soc. Antiq , Scotland,” vol. ix.,
part ii., p. 587, &e.

2

122 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

continued from the earliest historical period, and were
retained with unswerving tenacity and fidelity. Surely,
then, its traditional belief in the indigenous origin of
Scotland’s wild white bull carries with it much weight,
confirmed as it is by other evidence.

These traditional beliefs remained a few years since
very vivid, and they bore very strongly upon the
antiquity of the wild white race. A Scottish corre-
spondent, upon whom I can fully depend,* says :—‘‘ The
recesses of the old Caledonian Forest were in the central
Highlands, where traces of it still remain. I was most
familiar with its localities, having spent my youth-time
in the Highlands of Perthshire, and I often heard, when
a boy, about the white oxen. I can recall the name of
a mountain slope between Rannoch and Lochaber—
Leac'—na*—ba*—gill,* the Gaelic for shelving rock’
(or stony slope)—of the’—white*—ox*® (or cow).”’ But
perhaps of all others Sir Walter Scott, the great Scottish
antiquarian of his day, who so faithfully represents the
manners, habits, and opinions of his countrymen, is the
most authentic expositor of their traditions on this as
on other points. JI have already quoted, from his
romance of “Castle Dangerous,” the account of a
medizval hunt of “the wild cattle peculiar to Scotland; ”
and at the head of my chapter on the Hamilton cattle
a further quotation will be given from his well-known
poem of “ Cadzow Castle.” But his works, as might
be expected when the subject was of such national
interest, have other allusions to the subject. When, in
“The Lord of the Isles,’ Lord Ronald of the Isles

* Quoted from a letter addressed to me by Mr. A. C. Cameron, M.A.,
of Fettercairn, County of Kincardine, the author of a valuable paper in
the “ Highland Society’s Transactions.” Fourth Series, vol. v., 1873.

SIR WALTER SCOTT. 125

guides up the rocky pass the supposed page Amadine,
but really Edith of Lorn, the chieftain asks her—

“‘ Dost thou not rest thee on my arm ?
Do not my plaid-folds hold thee warm ?
Hath not the wild bull’s treble hide
This targe for thee and me supplied?” *

One ordinary use to which the hide of the wild bull was
applied is here alluded to.

Nor must we forget the beautiful description, in
“The Lady of the Lake,’ of the way in which the
island home of the banished Douglas was adorned :—

“For all around, the, walls to grace,
Hung trophies of the fight or chase :
A target there, a bugle here,
A battle-axe, a hunting spear,
And broadswords, bows, and arrows store,
With the tusk’d trophies of the boar.
Here grins the wolf as when he died,
And there the wild-cat’s brindled hide
The frontlet of the elk adorns,
Or mantles o’er the bison’s horns.” +

The bison here is the wild bull, frequently, though
improperly called so, both in ancient and in modern
times, for the true bison has not existed in Scotland, or
even in Great Britain, during the historic period.

In another of his works, “‘ The Bride of Lammer-
moor, { Sir Walter makes the wild bull figure in his
story, though at a later period, when he had become a
park animal. He gives, however, a sketch of the

* <The Lord of the Isles,’ canto v., stanza 18.
+ “The Lady of the Lake,” canto i., stanza 27. £ Chapter v.

124. WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

ancient history and then state of the wild cattle, and
calls them “ the descendants of the savage herds which
anciently roamed free in the Caledonian forests.”” Many
of my readers will remember the life-like description
which follows of the wild bull, “stimulated either by
the scarlet colour of Miss Ashton’s mantle, or by one of
those fits of capricious ferocity to which their disposi-
tions are lable,” detaching himself suddenly from the
group with which he was feeding, and approaching
“the intruders on his pasture ground, at first slowly,
pawing the ground with his hoof, bellowing from time
to time, and tearmg up the sand with his horns, as if
to lash himself up to rage and violence ;” and how at
last he pursued at full speed the unfortunate lord
keeper and his daughter.

The last quotation I shall give is peculiarly striking,
not so much as alluding to the wild cattle, for “ Dun-
craggan’s milk-white bull” is not represented as being
of this race, though the poet, when describing him as
“so fierce, so tameless, and so fleet,” wishes, I think,
to indicate his descent from or relationship to it.
But its peculiar value consists in the description of an
ancient custom, which assumed the character of a reli-
gious rite, and which had come down from the times
of the Druids; the rite being accompanied—as was the
custom among the Druids themselves in their most
important ceremonies—by the slaughter of a white bull.
I can scarcely doubt that Sir Walter had all this in
his mind when he wrote—

“Tt is, because last evening-tide
Brian an augury hath tried,
Of that dread kind which must not be
Unless in dread extremity,

Lo
Ct

“DUNCRAGGAN’S MILK-WHITEH BULL.” 1

The Taghairm call’d ; by which, afar,
Our sires foresaw the events of war.
Duncraggan’s milk-white bull they slew.”

The wizard was wrapped in the reeking hide, and being
laid on the verge of the foaming cataract, there awaited
the prophetic inspiration, as his Pagan ancestors would
have done hundreds of years before. The poet, it must
be remembered, describes a ceremony which actually
existed among the Highlanders; and one which, among
many others, shows us how strongly their minds were
impressed with the remembrance of the past.

To a great extent the traditions of the Scotch gene-
rally, and of the Highlanders especially, were eminently
historical; encumbered, it may be, with many myths
and fables, as the early histories of all nations are, yet
founded upon fact. Upon no circumstance is Scottish
tradition everywhere more uniform in its testimony,
than with regard to the great antiquity and prolonged
continuance of its wild mountain bull, on which it so
justly prided itself; while Scott, in his writings, may be
said to have embodied these traditions. But now we
approach the period of authentic history, and that verifies
and confirms them. A barbarous and savage country
hke Scotland, engaged in perpetual wars, had, of course,
few early historians; its bards and scalds, as among all
northern nations, chronicled its records in their memory
and recited them in their effusions. Of its recognised
historians, Hector Boethius was one of the earliest, and
he gives a graphic description of the wild bull, which
confirms the traditional accounts. His “‘Scotorum
Historie, a prima Gentis Origine,’ was first published

* «The Lady of the Lake,” canto iv., stanza 4.

126 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

in Paris in 1526-7; that is, exactly three hundred and
fifty years since; but as he was then fifty-six, having
been born in 1470, his personal recollections must
have gone back to a time nearly four hundred years
antecedent to the present.

Boethius was a contemporary of Leland, whose
journeys throughout England commenced a few years
later, and who alludes to the wild bulls in that country.
The celebrated passage in the work of Boethius in
which reference is made to them is as follows :—*

“Near to Argyle and Lennox, in the midst.of Scot-
land, lies the district of Stirling and Monteith, not far
from which is the town of the same name—Stirling—
with its very strong castle, called sometime the Dolorous
Mountain. Here formerly was the commencement of
the Caledonian Wood, the ancient names of Callander
and Calder still remaining ; it covered a great tract of
country, running through Monteith and Strathearn, as
far as Athol and Lochaber. That wood used to
produce bulls of the purest white, having manes lke
that of the lion; and though in other parts of the body
they very much resembled tame cattle, they were still
so wild and untamable, and so desirous to avoid all
intercourse with man, that when they perceived that
any herbs, trees, or fruits had been touched by man’s
hand, they fled from them for many succeeding days.
When captured skilfully (which, however, is a most

* “Seotorum Historie,” &e.: Paris, 1574, fols. xi. and xii. I have,
however, collated it with the first edition, Paris, 1526. This work of
Boethius was translated into the Scottish vernacular by John Bellen-
den, Archdeacon of Moray, in 1553, and into English by Raphael Hol-
linshed, in 1585; but in both cases so unliterally, that I have ventured
to give, both in this passage from Boethius, and in those which follox
from Bishop Leslie, my own translation.

THE TURNBULL LEGEND. 127

difficult matter to accomplish), in a very short time they
would die of grief. If, however, they find that they
are pursued, they rush with the greatest impetuosity
against any man, and soon prostrate him, fearing neither
dogs, nor spears, nor any other weapon.

“It is related, too, that Robert Bruce, after he had
obtained the kingdom, and peace was restored, had a
narrow escape from death while hunting for the sake of
recreation. For while wandering about somewhat
negligently, wherever inclination led him, and apart
from his companions, there met and attacked him a bull
of this breed which had been wounded by a spear, and
which, impelled by rage, threatened him with imme-
diate destruction ; nor was there any way in which the
king could escape from the impending danger. But
while all looked on, stupefied with fear, a certain man,
instantly resolving to sacrifice his life for the king,
seized the wild animal by the horns; and resisting him
with, his utmost strength, not only stopped his im-
petuous course, but, unhurt himself, with great valour
prostrated the beast upon the ground, where it was
immediately despatched by the spears of the attendants,
who ran in: and thus he was the means of averting the
death which threatened the king. * Grateful for the
preservation of his life, the king endowed him richly, and
willed that thereafter he should be called Turnesutt,
which means—The man who overthrew the bull.
There still exist families of this name of no incon-
siderable rank, whose name and fortunes, it is said, have
their first origin from him.

“The flesh of these animals is most pleasant eating,
and especially grateful to the noblesse; but though they

* See Appendix.

128 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

were bred formerly throughout all that wood, they are
only found now in one part of it, called Cumbernauld,
having been universally slaughtered in all others by
the gluttonous lust of man.”

It has been the fashion among some eminent men to
consider this account exaggerated, and the writer him-
self credulous,* and an instance has been given of his
relating an absurd story of a “terrible beast ’’ which in
the year 1510, came out of “a loch of Argyle ;” but
it should be remembered that this improbable narra-
tive was given, not on his own authority, but on that
of Sir Duncan Campbell. It must indeed be admitted
that the early writers of all nations have been too
credulous, and too apt to embrace without hesitation
or examination any popular story which was handed
down to them. Every age has its literary errors; and
perhaps that of our own age is a species of stilted
scepticism which leads many to deny the truth oi
every historical circumstance that cannot be proved by
written evidence, and to reject all testimony, however
cumulative, which is merely circumstantial. But in
this case the statement of Boethius with regard to the
mountain bull of Scotland will bear the strictest and
closest examination. It has an unmistakable likeness
to Cesar’s description of the Urus in the Hyrcinian
Forest, and a comparison of the two is in favour of
Boethius. Each described an animal living when he
wrote; but Cesar one in a country remote from his

* So Dr. Robertson, the learned historian of Scotland, pronounced
Boethius to be; but then he seems to have been quite incapable of
estimating the value of antiquarian researches, for he intimates that
early Scottish history “ought to be totally neglected, or abandoned to
the industry and credulity of antiquaries.” (‘History of Scotland,”
book i.)

CREDIBILITY OF BOETHIUS. 129

home, and at the very outside of his conquests ;
Boethius one then existing at Cumbernauld, in a
straight line only about thirty miles from Edinburgh,
respecting which, even if it came not—as probably it
did—within his personal cognisance, he had means of
procuring information far superior to Cesar’s. And
the result shows the greater credibility of Boethius ;
for while there is no internal evidence to show any
exaggeration in his statements with regard to the
inhabitants of the Caledonian Wood, Cesar gave the
most absurdly fabulous account of two animals in the
Hyrcinian Forest, which are supposed to be the rein-
deer and the elk.* The first he describes as having
“one horn only rising from the middle of its forehead ;”
the other as being “ broken-horned, and without joints
and articulations in their legs,’ so that “if they laid
or tumbled down, they never could get up again,” and
therefore used “the trees for their beds, and took their
repose reclining gently against them.” Primarily,
Cesar’s account of the Hyrcinian Urus is clearly, when
you take into consideration the incredible statements
he made with regard to other animals in the same
forest, far less trustworthy than that of Boethius
respecting the Caledonian mountain bull; but as
regards the Urus, Cesar’s narrative was confirmed

* “Cesar. Comment.,” lib. vi., chap. xxvi.:—“ Est bos cervi figura,
cujus a media fronte inter aures unum cornu exsistit, excelsius magisque
directum his, que nobis nota sunt cornibus. Ab ejus summo, sicut palme,
ramique late diffunduntur,” &. And chap. xxvii.:—“Sunt item qua
appellantur alees. Harum est consimilis capris figura et varietas pellium,
sed magnitudine paullo antecedunt : mutileeque sunt cornibus, et crura sine
nodis articulisque habent: neque quietis causi procumbunt, neque, si quo
afflictee casu conciderunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt. His sunt
arbores pro cubilibus: ad eas se applicant, atque ita, paullum modo
reclinate, quietem capiunt,” &e.

J

130 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

by independent testimony. So also was that of
Boethius.

The principal points which are supposed to be
exaggerated in the above quotation from Boethius are
that the Scotch forest bull had a mane “ like that of
the lion” (“in formam leonis’’), and that he would
avoid for a length of time whatever had been “ touched
by man’s hand.”

But the truth of both of these supposed exaggera-
tions has been fully proved. The existence of the
mane is fully confirmed by Scottish testimony of but
a few years subsequently, as will be shortly shown ;
while in my account of the Chillingham herd it will be
seen, from my own observations, that their descendants
have them now, though to a diminished extent, and
extending over exactly those parts of the body which
the mane of the lion covers. It will be shown there
that Sir Edwin Landseer (one of the best of judges)
considered this one of their most peculiarly distinctive
features, and that when Bewick (one of the most faithful
of delineators) engraved, eighty-seven years since, the
Chillingham bull, this remarkable feature was much
more clearly marked than it is now. As respects their
avoidance of whatever had been touched by man, and
the keenness of their sense of smell, numerous modern
instances bear testimony to the correctness of the state-
ment. Even domestic cattle have, as every observing
breeder knows, the most highly developed sense of
smell; but in the wild cattle this peculiarity is intensi-
fied, and, as in other wild animals, upon the acuteness
of this sense, combined with those of seemg and
hearing, they principally depend for protection from
their foes. Mr. H. H. Dixon, when describing the

BOETHIUS CORROBORATED. 131

Chillingham cattle, says:—‘“ Their sense of smell is
exceedingly acute, and a cow has been seen to run to
a man’s foot like a sleuth-hound when he had run for
his life to a tree.’* The same accurate observer
informs us that if a Chillingham calf “has been
housed, it takes nearly two months to take off the
tame smell.”

And a most remarkable instance of this kind has
come to my knowledge lately. I am informed by
Mr. Jacob Wilson, the steward of the Chillingham
estate, that for experimental purposes a domestic cow
was, a short time since, introduced to one of the Chilling-
ham bulls under the most favourable circumstances.
Though she was quite prepared to give him encourage-
ment, he would take no notice whatever of her, and the
Chillingham people ascribed this curious result to one
thing only: that she had lately been handled by man,
and that the wild bull could not endure that smell.t
Nothing can more completely confirm the truth of the
record of Boethius, or show how intensely abhorrent to
the wild cattle is the scent of man. It may be admitted,
indeed, that these and other instances of their ferocity
and wildness do not necessarily establish their aboriginal
wild origin, for undoubtedly domestic cattle which had
become feral, and continued so through many successive
generations, would regain this and other characteristics

* “Saddle and Sirloin,” chap. vi., p. 137.

+ This experiment has since been repeated, and more successfully.
A wild bull (captured for the purpose) was in the autumn of 1876 in-
troduced to two or three Short-horn females. At first he showed a dis-
position to kill one or two of them. In the end, a heifer was left with
him for three weeks, at the end of which time-—owing, it is supposed,
to the smell of man having passed off—he took to her. From this and
subsequent similar experiments, some young animals resulted, a description
of which is given at p. 217.—Ep.

Sie

132 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

of the truly wild animal. This, however, proves
nothing either way. ‘There is nothing to indicate
that Boethius exaggerated, but much to show that he
did not.

It must indeed be allowed that similar descriptions
of the Bos (or, as they often called it, Bison) Scoticus,
published abroad some years afterwards by the foreign
writers, Paulus Jovius, Gesner, and Aldrovandus, and also
those in the work of John Jonston, M.D. (published at
Amsterdam in 1657, when the Scottish bull, as a forest
animal, was well nigh extinct), add little or nothing
to strengthen the statements of Boethius. They appear
—as might have been expected from the circumstances
of the authors—to have taken him as their authority,
and to have copied from him almost /iferatim. But it
was far otherwise with eminent Scottish writers who
immediately succeeded him. John Bellenden was
Archdeacon of Moray, a part of the country closely
contiguous to that which the wild bull formerly
inhabited, and must have been well acquainted with its
history and its form. He translated the work of
Boethius into the Scottish vernacular only twenty-seven
years after its first publication—namely, in the year
1553—which I cannot but think was strong evidence
of its value. Nay, he did more than this ; on the very
point most at issue—the lion-like manes of these bulls—
he added peculiar and remarkable words of his own which
were not in the original, but which aptly describe even
yet the hair on the necks of the Chillingham bulls. He
says their mane was “ crisp and curland,” an addition to
the description of Boethius which probably resulted from
his own knowledge and observation. A few years later,
in 1578, a most eminent Scotsman, Leslie, Bishop of

Mil
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AY

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, SI N O N
W E 1D) UNTED THE D

BISHOP LESLINS TESTIMONY. 135

Ross, published in Latin at Rome his work entitled,
“ De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus gestis Scotorum.” His
mature age at the time, and great attainments, still more
the part of the country where the See of Ross was
situated, make his opinion of the greatest value, and he
entirely confirms the statements already given. In 1561
he was the commissioner from the Scottish Roman
Catholics to wait on Queen Mary, then in France ; he
afterwards did all he could to alleviate and, if possible,
to terminate her imprisonment in England; he was her
chief commissioner at the conferences of both York and
Westminster; signed on her behalf the articles of
agreement for her proposed marriage with the Duke of
Norfolk ; and finally, for joing in a conspiracy with
that nobleman against Queen Elizabeth in 1571, he was
“committed to the Tower, treated with the utmost
rigour, threatened with capital punishment, and, after a
long confinement, set at liberty, on condition that he
should leave the kingdom.” Dr. Robertson calls him
Mary's “ambassador at the English Court,” and repre-
sents him as being “equally eminent for his zeal and
his abilities.” * It seems difficult to suppose that such
a man’s description of the Scottish wild bull was, as has
been sometimes asserted, a mere transcript of that of
Boethius, though in its outline and mode of treatment it is
very similar, and some of its expressions are probably de-
rived from that source. Even ifit had been,it would be the
testimony of an independent witness perfectly cognisant
of the subject on which he wrote. The account of
Bishop Leslie, after describing Stirling and Monteith,

* The whole of the above quotations, and also the previous particulars
with regard to Bishop Leslie, are taken from various places in Dr.
Robertson’s “ History of Scotland.”

136 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

and relating that “from these regions that formerly
most vast Caledonian Wood took its origin,” notices the
extinction of the bears, of which it was once, according
to ancient writers, extremely full (“refertissimam ”),
and after further mentioning that it still had “wolves in
great numbers, and of the most savage kind,” proceeds
as follows :—

“In Caledonia there was formerly common, but
now more rare, a kind of forest bull, which, of the
purest white in colour, carries a mane, thick and hanging
down, like that of the lion. It is fierce and savage,
abhors the human race; and anything that man has
either touched or breathed upon, for many days it
altogether avoids. Besides this, so great was the
audacity of this bull, that not only would it when
irritated madly overthrow horsemen, but even when
provoked ever so little, it would attack all men pro-
miscuously, both with horns and hoofs, and it would
utterly despise the attacks of our dogs, which are of the
most ferocious kind. Its flesh is cartilaginous, but of
the sweetest flavour. It was formerly common through-
out that most vast Caledonian Wood, but, destroyed by
man’s gluttony, it remains in three places only: Stirling,
Cumbernauld, and Kincardine.”

Tt will be observed that there is considerable resem-
blance in the descriptions of the wild bull, as given by
Boethius and Bishop Leslie; but not more than was
natural when the two writers were describing the same
animal, and when the later writer had, of course, read
the description of the earlier. But the bishop’s account,
short as it is, adds many fresh particulars. It mentions
the numerous bears with which the Caledonian Wood
anciently abounded, and the very savage wolves which

VALUE OF BISHOP LESLIE'S ACCOUNT. 137

in his own time infested it. It describes much more
fully than Boethius did the lion-like mane of the
Caledonian forest bull; it relates how this bull was
very sensitive to what man had not only touched, but
even breathed upon; how it attacked horsemen, and
how it used as a weapon of offence the hoof as well as
the horn; and it enlarges upon the animal’s contempt
of dogs, however ferocious, while it says nothing about
its indifference to spears and other weapons. But the
most striking and complete difference between the two
accounts is, that while Boethius mentioned one place
only—Cumbernauld—where this wild bull still remained,
the bishop named two others: Stirling and Kincardine.
Upon this point he appears to have had the more full
information. It is quite probable that in Leslie’s time
some of the wild bulls which had afforded sport to the
Scottish kings when they made Stirling their residence
were still preserved there; for more than a hundred
years later Sibbald mentions 'Torwood, near Stirling, as
one of the largest woods then remaining in Scotland.
Where Kincardine was is not certain. There are several
Kincardines; but the one most likely meant is a small
place of that name near Blair Drummond, and between
Stirling and Callander, being exactly the same localities
where the mountain bull existed in the time of Robert
Bruce, and where it was probably still preserved by the
Scottish kings in the time of Bishop Leslie. It is
singular that neither Boethius nor Leslie alludes to the
wild cattle at Hamilton ; which, however, were beyond
the range of the Caledonian Forest, and being also
confined in a park, were perhaps in both respects outside
their subject ; and this remark probably applies to other
wild herds, then existing, but similarly circumstanced.

138 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Sir Robert Sibbald, M.D., in his “ Scotia [lustrata,”’
published at Edinburgh in 1684, first threw doubts
upon these descriptions of the forest bull, and said they
‘wanted confirmation :” a somewhat bold assertion from
a man who could never have seen these animals in their
wild state, since they were then, as such, nearly if not
quite extinct, while the writers he contradicted lived
contemporaneously with them. And he added: “In
many places of the mountainous part of Scotland wild
oxen are found, and white too, but not so savage or
differmg in form from domestic cattle.” Now I must
observe that we have no reason at all to suppose that
the Kyloe or Highland breed of cattle were ever white,
except in a few exceptional cases. Indeed, the great
obstacle which those have to contend with who hold
that these forest bulls were derived from cattle from the
neighbouring domestic herds which had strayed and
become feral is the difficulty—I might say, the impossi-
bility—of showing how a small and uniformly dark race
of cattle, in structure clearly allied to the Bos longifrons,
could be the parents of a larger breed, invariably of pure
white, and descended, mainly at least, as osteological
examinations clearly show, from the Bos primigenis.
But in this case there is not much doubt, for, fortu-
nately, Bishop Leslie, 106 years previously, describes
also the semi-wild Highland cattle to which Sibbald
alludes, treating them as of quite a different species
from the wild forest bull. I give the following trans-
lation of the passage * :—

“There are pastured, on the mountains of Argyle,

* The learned Professor Fleming, in his “ British Animals” (Hdin-
burgh, 1828, p. 24), refers to this passage, and considers that the cattle
here described were probably the parents of the domesticated breeds,
still rather wild, yet existing in the same parts.

BISHOP LESLIE ON HIGHLAND CATTLE. 139

in Ross-shire too, and in very many other places, cows
which are not tame as elsewhere, but which wander
about like stags, avoiding with considerable natural
wildness intercourse with or the sight of man. Scarcely,
even in winter, when the snow is very deep and severe
frost lasts long, are they recalled to the shelter of a roof.
The wonderful sweetness and most delicate flavour of
their flesh far exceed the expectation of those who have
never tasted it: when the meat is cooked the fat does
not set when it cools, like that of other cattle, but for a
few days is fluid, like oil. Many others of this breed are
celebrated, but those which are sent to us from Carrick*
most of all. The herdsmen only retain the cow calves ;
they never keep the bull calves, except single ones for
single herds, for there they plough the land with horses.
On the approach of winter, when the cows are very fat
and plump, they are sent for sale into all parts of the
kingdom; but those which are killed for domestic use
are preserved in salt till the following summer, as in
other nations they do with pork, a kind of flesh which
our countrymen little care for.”

I think it must be apparent to my readers that
Boethius and Leslie well knew that the wild bull of the
Caledonian Forest was as distinct in species as he was

* “ Carectonia” is, I presume, Carrick. Youatt, describing what has
taken place there during the present century, says :—“ In Carrick chiefly,
but not exclusively, many black cattle are grazed and fattened for the
Scotch and English markets.” And again :—“In the beautiful village of
Colmonel, on the banks of the Stinchar, there are usually at least 3,000
black cattle.”—Youatt’s “Cattle,” chap. iii, pp. 137, 188. This seems
much to confirm what Bishop Leslie wrote so long before, as does also the

old and well-known rhyme :—

“Kyle for a man,
And Carrick for a cow,
Cunningham for butter and cheese,
And Galloway for wool.”

140 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GRHAT BRITAIN.

in colour from the dark, semi-wild Highland cattle
which Lesle, much more fully than Sibbald, describes ;
and he also speaks of the two species as occupying in
his day quite different localities.

On the whole, therefore, it seems certain from the
evidence of both history and tradition, that when the
great Caledonian Wood was at its best, then the grand
Caledonian wild bull was most flourishing and abundant ;
but when it declined the forest bull declined with it, so
that historians who lived from 300 to 400 years since
were only able to testify how much more prevalent it
had been in former days, how rare it had then become,
and how nearly it had arrived at that total extinction
which soon followed. It was the history of a grand
and ancient race dying out, as did subsequently Scot-
land’s noble aboriginal bird, the eapercailzie, from the
loss of those primzeval forests which had anciently given
food and protection to them both. Far, far in the
depths of a remote antiquity, if history and tradition
are to be believed, its first origin must be looked for,
since, 400 years ago, it was a mere relic of the past; and
it seems pretty certain that even in the time of Robert
Bruce, 550 years since, its range had become much
circumscribed. It had for ages filled the place assigned
it, and its work was done. We have the concluding
chapter only of the history of an ancient species—so, at
least, all the evidence we can obtain testifies. That
testimony carries us back to, and perhaps much beyond,
the time when the learned Vice-President* of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland thinks the Urus
may perhaps be considered to have still existed there—
namely, from the sixth to the ninth century. The two

OD reply Sorat.

DR. SMITH ON ANCIENT REMAINS. 141

lines of evidence, the Historical and the Geological, meet
and cross, and the Scottish mountain bull, most abundant
in those ancient times, may very likely have been himself,
as tradition believed him to be, the Scottish representa-
tive of the Urus. It is a possible, and I think the most
probable, solution, especially if we take into considera-
tion the many instances of confirmatory evidence given
in this book.

In Dr. Smith’s excellent paper “On the Ancient
Cattle of Scotland,”’* the value of which I estimate
most highly, though Iam unable to concur in all its
conclusions, an admirable account is given of the
known cases in which the remains of the Urus (Bos
prinugenius) have been found in Scotland. He deals
very fairly with the subject, mentioning the pro-
bable discovery in a marl pit, near Selkirk, of the skull
of the Urus in combination with bronze weapons, and
the finding “remains, apparently allied to this great
ox, in the ruins of human dwellings,” the Jdrochs or
Pictish houses “‘ of Orkney and Caithness.” But there
are Other discoveries named in his paper which do not
seem to have struck him so forcibly as they do me. It
appears, from the instances given, that the remains of
the Urus, or of an ox nearly allied to it, have been
found also in Haddingtonshire, ‘‘in an ancient structure
built of dry stone walls, and a kitchen-midden, dis-
covered on an isolated rock known as the ‘ Ghegan,’ on
the sea shore near Seacliff.” Certain circumstances
connected with the account are curious. Amid a
multiplicity of bones there appear to have been none
found of any species now extinct; and the bones of
sheep being ‘“‘in very great abundance,” while those of

* «Proceed. Soc. Antiq., Scotland,” vol. ix., part ii., p. 587, &e.

142 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

the goat were “few,” seems to indicate the comparatively
recent date of these remains. Here, too, there were
found of bones ‘“‘of oxen a great abundance, and con-
sisting of several varieties.” The Bos longifrons was
one; what were the “ others” ?

It is much to be regretted that so little attention
has been paid, in most of these Scottish discoveries of
the remains of the Urus, to the question of date and to
the circumstances under which they were found; which
are the more important because the smaller dimensions
of the remains of this animal found in Scotland, as com-
pared with those of the Thames Valley and other places,
apparently prove either that it was always here, as in
Scandinavia, of inferior magnitude, or that many of
these religuie belonged to those of the species which
lived at a later period, when they had generally decreased
in size. ‘To show how considerable is the difference, I
will merely say that in one instance only of the many
specimens from the brick earth of Ilford now in the
British Museum is the circumference of the horn-cores
at the base so little as fifteen inches, every other
specimen measuring from seventeen to eighteen inches ;
while in the numerous Scottish examples referred to by
Dr. Smith, only two are given the circumference of
whose horn-cores at the base attains to fourteen inches,
the others being all of less, and some of much smaller
dimensions. It would not be, I think, too much to
say that in this particular the average variation in size
between the Scottish specimens and the Ilford ones is
nearly, if not quite, as two is to three, one-third less;
and there appears to be in other respects a corresponding
inferiority in size. In some cases, too, these relatively
small skulls of the Scottish Urus appear to have been

NEED OF FURTHER EXPLORATION. 143

found in comparatively recent deposits. ‘Two remark-
able discoveries took place in 1839 and 1840 in the
parish of Bower, in the county of Caithness. In both
cases ‘two heads were locked together by the horns,
as if the animals had killed one another.” Few par-
ticulars were given, and these perhaps not very accurate
ones, but enough is stated to show that these bulls
must have been very inferior in size to the ordinary
fossil Urus, and that they were buried not much below
the surface of the ground. In one case the two united
heads were discovered in a moss little more than three
feet deep ; in the other near a loch, where recent deposits
may have been considerable, three feet only below the
surface; and it is remarkable that in the latter case
the circumference of the horn-cores of the one of the
two bulls which was measured was eleven inches only.
I hope that in future greater attention may be paid to
such important points; and—if I am not too bold in
making the suggestion—possibly, researches ably con-
ducted at the known residences and hunting-seats of
the ancient Pictish and Scottish kings might lead to
interesting discoveries.

CHAPTER Vil.

The Chillingham Herd—Mentioned by Culley and Pennant—Bewick’s Account
—Differences in these Statements—Brief Account of Chillingham—Lord
Tankerville’s Account of the Herd—Riitimeyer’s Opinion—Notice in 1689
corroborates Bewick as to Colour of the Hars—Further Particulars by Lord
Tankerville—Jesse’s Statement that the Herd was once reduced to one Cow
in Calf incorrect-—Mr. Hindmarsh’s Account—Last published Account of
the Herd by ‘‘ The Druid” in 1870.

Amone the wild herds now or formerly existing in
this country, that of Chillingham has long claimed
the foremost place. To this it seems entitled, if for
nothing else, at least for this—that it is the connecting
link between the wild cattle of England and those o*%
Scotland, and retains, perhaps more than any other, the
type and character of an animal so celebrated in history
as Caledonia’s wild bull. It has been, too, for a long
time much more prominently before the public than
other herds; for which it is indebted principally to the
happy circumstance that Bewick, the prince of wood-
engravers, and no mean naturalist, illustrated his pages
with the picture of the wild bull of his native country,
and with an interesting description of it; while, in later
years, Landseer himself passed many a leisure hour in
studying and observing the Chillingham cattle in their
native haunts, and then immortalised them by trans-
ferrmg them lfe-lke to his canvas.

But the earliest historian of the Chilingham wild
cattle was Mr. George Culley. Born in 1730, the sot.

CULLEHY, PENNANT, AND BEWICK. 145

of a gentleman* of good landed estate at Denton-on-
Tees, in the county of Durham, and the friend both of
Arthur Young and Bakewell, he is said to have been,
together with his brother Matthew, the greatest of
‘“‘acricultural improvers ”’ in the North. He was joint
author with John Bailey (who had been steward at
Chillingham) of the “Agricultural Surveys of North-
umberland and Cumberland,” published by the Board
of Agriculture. But it was in his clever work on
“‘Taive Stock,” published in 1786, that he gave the first
account of any importance that the public ever had of
the Chillingham herd, and which has ever since done
duty as their history.t

Pennant, the great naturalist, published about the
same time his “British Zoology,’ and mentions {
“having seen in the woods of Drumlanrig, in North
Britain, and in the park belonging to Chillingham
Castle, in Northumberland, herds of cattle derived from
the savage breed,” “white cattle with black muzzles
and ears, their horns fine and with a bold and elegant
bend.” The keeper at Chilingham informed him that
the weight of the ox was thirty-eight stone, and of
the cow twenty-eight.

Thomas Bewick, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, followed by
publishing, in 1790, his “ General History of Quadru-
peds,” a book which went through several editions, and
which contained a most spirited engraving of the Chil-
lingham wild bull. His description of the cattle is

* His mother was Eleanor, daughter of Edward Surtees, Esq., of
Mainforth, a well-known family, which produced the historian of the
County of Durham.

+ Culley’s account may be found at pages 8 and 9 of Youatt’s work
on “‘ Cattle.”

t Vol.i., p. 18, 4th edition, 1786.

K

146 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

taken word for word from Culley’s work, so that it is
needless to repeat it. In one respect only does he
differ from the latter, in saying, “The weight of the
oxen is generally from forty to fifty stones the four
quarters, of the cows about thirty.” Bewick, however,
besides giving some brief notices of other wild herds,
states further, with reference to the one at Chilling-
ham :—

“About twenty years since there were a few at
Chillingham with black ears, but the present park-
keeper destroyed them: since which period there has
not been one with black ears.” . . . “Tame cows, in
season, are frequently turned out amongst the wild cattle
at Chillingham, and admit the bull. It is somewhat
extraordinary that the calves produced by this mode are
invariably of the same colour with the wild breed (white,
with red ears), and retain a good deal of the fierceness
of their sire.”

The above authorities differ a little on one or two
points. Bewick makes the oxen of much greater weight
than Culley, who had the best means of knowing ; or
than Pennant, who obtained his information from the
keeper. ‘There can be no doubt that Bewick was mis-
taken. Even Culley’s statement names a maximum
weight greater than either ox or cow nowadays attains ;
while Pennant’s average of their weights, ninety years
or so since, fairly represents their average weights at
the present time. Michie, the keeper, told me that
the heaviest ox killed for some years past weighed
forty-two stone three pounds the four quarters, and the
heaviest cow thirty-three stone nine pounds. But it is
undoubtedly true, as Culley observes, that they would
make much greater weights could they be subjected to

DIFFERENCES IN DESCRIPTION. 147

the same treatment and fed in the same manner in
which ordinary oxen are, when preparing for the market.

Culley intimates that the colour of the ears was red ;
Pennant says black; and Bewick, writing a few years
later, says that they were red-eared, but that twenty
years before a few of them were black-eared. Possibly
Pennant saw some of these; and as he classed the
Chillingham cattle in his brief description with those
at Drumlanrig, which he saw at the same time, and
which were all black-eared, he may have considered the
black ear, rather than the red, the more distinctive
characteristic of the race. It is, perhaps, a matter of
little moment; for it will be seen, as we proceed with
this history, that other herds of white cattle have pro-
duced, like the Chillingham herd, ears of both these
colours, and that the one or the other has finally pre-
vailed in consequence of man’s selection.

I have stated above just what was known about
the Chillmgham wild cattle at the close of the last
century. Before entering upon further inquiries re-
specting them, I proceed to describe briefly the locality
they inhabit. Chillingham Parish, Castle, and Park
are situate in Glendale Ward, Northumberland. The
Northumbrian ‘‘ wards” answer in the main to the
hundreds in more southern counties, and each of them
contains numerous very extensive parishes, again sub-
divided into several townships. Glendale Ward, deriv-
ing its name either from the small river Glen, or from
the numerous and picturesque glens with which it
abounds, is situated in the wildest and most beau-
tiful part of the county of Northumberland, just
where Hngland, enclosed by Scotland on the one side
and the German Ocean on the other, is narrowing

K 2

148 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

rapidly to a point, which terminates at Berwick. It
forms, as a whole, a large and picturesque valley, nearly
surrounded by the noble Cheviots or their outlying
spurs; it is watered by unnumbered burns or rivulets,
which rise in its lovely glens. The Caldgate, Lear-
mouth, Hetton, Chillingham, Carey, Pallins, Beaumont,
and College burns, or rivulets, are some of the principal ;
the river Till crosses the ward from south to north, and
the Tweed, for about three miles, washes its north-
western limits and divides it from Scotland. Every
part of the district 1s replete with historical associa-
tions. Flodden Field is within its limits; Otterburn,
which gave rise to the celebrated ballad of “Chevy
Chase,” is nigh at hand; and down its romantic glens
has many a troop of Scottish marauders passed, for
Glendale was the favourite road for their incursions.
Its only town was Wooler, formed into a powerful
barony by William the Conqueror, and Chillingham
Castle, on the southern side of Glendale Valley and
Ward, has always been the residence of Wooler’s
lord or baron. During the Norman period it was
held by the family De Musco Campo, or Muschampe ;
but after various changes, both Wooler and Chilling-
ham came, in the reign of Henry III., into the pos-
session of the heroic family of the Greys of Wark
Castle. Sir William Grey, of Chillingham and Wark,
was created a baronet in 1619, and Lord Grey of Wark
in 1623; and his son Forde, Lord Grey, was created
Viscount Glendale and Earl of Tankerville* in 1695.
* This was only a revival of that title, for we find that Henry Grey,
seventh Lord Powys, was, by King Henry V., a.p. 1414, “created Harl
of Tankerville in Normandy, to him and his heirs male, by delivering

one basin of earth at the Castle of Rouen every year, on St. George’s
Day.”

CHILLINGHAM CASTLE. 149

These titles expired at his death, without issue male,
in 1701; but Chillingham, Wark, Wooler, and their
dependencies were inherited by his only daughter and
heiress, Lady Mary Grey, who had married, in 1695,
Charles Bennet, second Baron Ossulston. This noble-
man was re-created Harl of Tankerville at the corona-
tion of George I., on October 19th, 1714; and in his
descendants, by the heiress of the Greys, these titles
and estates still continue.

Chillingham Castle is situated on the south side of
Glendale, and was, during the whole of the period we
have been recapitulating, one of that line within line of
strong Border fortresses, like Norham, Ford, Alnwick,
Warkworth, and a dozen others; where England’s great
Northern barons stoutly held their own, and protected
their neighbours against the perpetual predatory excur-
sions of Scotland’s moss-troopers, and against the still
more formidable attacks of her kings and _nobles-
Wooler lies about four miles distant in a south.
westerly direction as the crow flies; due west you
arrive at the Scottish border at about eleven miles;
but the elevated moors which formed part of the great
Caledonian Forest are at little more than four miles
distance in the same direction, having, as Sir Walter
Scott pointed out, Chilingham at its one extremity,
Hamilton (or Cadzow) at the other. Intermediate
between these (for the Cheviots take, from Chillingham,
a south-westerly bend before they trend north-westerly
through Ettrick Forest to Lancashire, and so form a
semi-circle) was Naworth Castle, on the moors around
which the “ white wild cattle” roamed unreclaimed as
late as two centuries ago. Intermediate also was Drum-
lanrig, where they were also kept. A scarcely outlying

150 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

portion of this great forest was formerly Chillingham
itself. Very woody is it now. The large and ancient
Hepburn Wood adjoins the park on one side; on the
other scarce anything but high and open moors inter-
venes between it and the sea-coast. Yet the whole was
much more woody formerly.* When the church of
Chillingham was built, and the vicarage endowed, as
appears by a copy of the endowment extracted from the
records at Durham, circa 1220, the vicar was, by an
agreement with Robert de Muschampe, to be allowed as
much timber as he wanted for repairs, of the best oak,
out of the Great Wood (Magno Bosco) of Chillingham ;
and the late Lord Tankerville states that the remains
of this wood “‘ were extant in the time of his grand-
father.”

The Castle of Chillingham is pleasantly situated on
a slightly rising ground in the valley above the river
Till, and the village nestles under its shelter. The
park is contiguous on its southern side; some part of it
is in the valley, on a level with the castle, but it
gradually widens and rises, till at last, in terrace after
terrace, it ascends the hill, the summit of which, called
Ross Castle, it encloses. Here is an ancient British
encampment, and though only about ten miles distant
from the sea, this part of the park is 1,036 feet above
the sea-level. Containing as it does within itself so
much variety of pasturage and climate, it is eminently
adapted to be the residence of wild animals. Of the
date of its enclosure no record remains, and the

* This and the subsequent statements of the late Lord Tankerville,
and of Mr. Hindmarsh, are all taken from Mr. Hindmarsh’s paper “ On
the Wild Cattle of Chillingham Park,” containing a letter from Lord

Tankerville, read before the British Association in 1838, and published in
Annals of Nat. Hist., vol. ii., p. 274.

CHILLINGHAM PARK. 151

statement in Darwin* that “it is referred to in a
record of the year 1220,” is, I think, a mistake,
originating in the passage above quoted, which, how-
ever, refers only to Chillimgham “Great Wood,” and
not to the park at all. Still “the Park of Chillingham
is a very ancient one,’ and was in all probability im-
parked at about the above period, or earlier. Though
the greater part of the present castle dates from
about this time—namely, early in the reign of Henry
I11.—yet it had long before that been the residence of
the great feudal house of De Musco Campo, Barons of
Wooler. We may, therefore, I think, safely conjecture
that the park was enclosed, and the wild cattle with
it, not later than the time of Henry III., or about
the time that the grant to the vicar was made as
above named. During that and the preceding reign
the great barons were all-powerful, and did pretty
much as they pleased, the Crown being extremely
weak; and many such enclosures were then made, one
of which was Chartley, whose park and wild cattle, as
imparked for the first time, are said to date from the
same reign. ‘The late Lord Tankerville also points out
that as Chillingham “was closely bounded by the
domains of the Percies on the one side, and the Hub-
burnes on the other (the latter of whom had been
seated there since the time of King John), and as the
chief branch of the Greys always made Chillmgham
their principal residence, it is reasonable to suppose
that, in order to secure their cattle, wild and tame, they
had recourse to an enclosure probably at an early
period.” |

Whatever may be the age of the park, that, I

. * “ Animals and Plants under Domestication,” vol. i., chap. iii., p. 84.

152 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

imagine, indicates also the time when the wild cattle
were first confined within its boundaries, for no record
of their introduction exists. I suppose that they,
previously wild denizens of the surrounding forest, were
then first incarcerated, as they were at Chartley and at
Lyme. The late Lord Tankerville states the question
very fairly. Writing in 1838, he says :—

“T must premise that our information as to their
origin is very scanty. All that we know or believe in
respect to it rests in great measure on conjecture, sup-
ported, however, by certain facts and reasonings which
lead us to believe in their ancient origin, not so much
from any direct evidence as from the improbability of
any hypothesis ascribing to them a more recent date.
I remember an old gardener, of the name of Moscrop,
who died many years ago, at the age of perhaps eighty
or more, who used to tell of what his father had told
him as happening to him when a boy relative to these
wild cattle, which were then spoken of as wild cattle,
and with the same sort of curiosity as exists with
respect to them at the present day.

“Tn my father’s and my grandfather’s time we know
that the same obscurity as to their origin prevailed ;
and if we suppose (as, no doubt, was the case) that there
were old persons in their time capable of carrying back
their recollections to the generations still antecedent to
them, this enables us at once to look back to a pretty
considerable period, during which no greater knowledge
existed as to their origin than at the present time.”

Mr. Hindmarsh, in commenting upon this state-
ment, points out that “the testimony of the two
Moscrops, connected with the contemporaries of the
first Moscrop, would carry us back a period of 200

PROFESSOR RUTIMEYER’S OPINION. 153

years.” That was 1838; and both he and Lord Tanker-
ville arrive at the same conclusion: “that the probability
is that they were the ancient breed of the island, en-
closed long since within the boundary of the park.”
In this opinion I altogether concur. Tradition, locality,
similarities of form and colour, and a large amount of
cumulative evidence, seem to prove that, whatever were
the wild cattle which abounded in the North of England
and in Scotland during the historic period, of the same
breed also are the Chillingham wild cattle; and Pro-
fessor Riitimeyer, judging them solely by their “ osteo-
logical characteristics,” and declaring that, as respects
these, “the question about the relationship of the cattle
of Chillingham is a pure anatomical one, and perfectly
independent of the historical” (which, he intimates,
“examines merely whether the herd has ever been a tame
one or not’’), arrives at the following very positive
conclusion :—

‘Putting aside the lesser size, the skull differs in no
way from the wild Primigenius. The Chilingham skull
is an elegant diminished copy of the mightier and
stronger diluvial oxen of Hurope, and the historical
descent of the first from the last cannot be doubted.”

The Professor further remarks upon the “uncommon
fineness and delicacy of the bones” of the Chillingham
oxen; and although agreeing with Hermann von
Nathusius that such “fineness and delicacy” are “never
to be found in real wild cattle,’ he attributes these
peculiarities to their partial confinement, to their
obtaining their food easily and without labour, and to
their not having been subjected to “ cross-breeding.”
These causes he considers sufficient, in the course of

39

ages, to “affect the texture of the bones and muscles ”’

154 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

to the extent which has taken place. But while avow-
ing that he considers the Chilingham wild ox “one
of the true descendants of the family” of the Bos
primgenius, “ and a faithful keeper of its race,” he does
not deny that there are other breeds which may in some
degree claim a similar descent. Indeed, he says that
“a tame Primigenius race, in a more or less pure form,
is widely spread;”’ and he especially mentions how
closely the head of the “tame Budjading cattle of
Holstein” resembles, notwithstanding their lesser
horns, the Chilimgham skull.

None of the authorities I have quoted above seems
to have been aware that there is a notice in existence of
the Chillingham cattle, as they were near 200 years
since, which in many respects throws hight upon them.
Having heard that such was the case, I discovered it at
last in a note at page 390 of vol. 1. of HE. Mackensie’s
“View of the County of Northumberland,” published
at Newcastle-on-Tyne, a.p. 1825. This note is as
follows :—

“ Tn a family Account Book written by William Taylor, steward
of Chillingham, and now (1821) in the possession of his great grand-
son, William Taylor, Esq., Hendon Grange, near Sunderland, is an
outlay :—‘ 1689, Dec™ 5, pd. Wm. Kadyll’s white calfe ten shillings.’

“¢May, 1692. Beasts in the Parke. My Lorde’s 16 white
wilde beasts, 2 black steers, and a guy,* 12 white, read, and black-
ear’d, five blacke oxen and brown one, 2 oxen from Warke, from

last a steer killed.’
“<« August 92. Y° guy hada calfe, and went to Upparke with
the twelve black and read-ear’d, two of the Warke, and the brown

one at Chivton.’ ”

With much trouble I have traced the Taylor family.

* A “ony,” or “ quey,” means universally throughout the North, and
in the Midland counties also, a young heifer.

ANCIENT COLOUR OF THE EARS. 155

The heir of Mr. William Taylor, of Hendon Grange,
was his brother; by whose son I am informed that his
father, some years before his death, burnt in his yard
several large boxes of old family papers, and no doubt
the steward’s “account book” among them. So that
we cannot ascertain anything further from this source ;
but these short quotations are very valuable, as showing
what was the state of the herd which belonged at that
time to the last Lord Grey of Wark.

To the “white calfe” bought of Wiliam Kadyll,
and to the “guy,” I shall allude further on. The
“192 white, read, and black-ear’d,” otherwise “ black
and read-ear’d,” classed with the “steers and oxen,”
were clearly of the same sort, and must, I think,
have been the produce (of that description) of ‘“ my
Lorde’s 16 white wilde beasts ”’—their relative number
being about what was likely, and the herd of sixteen
so extremely small if it had also included steers. It
was small enough at that time on this, the most favour-
able, supposition. Bewick’s assertion that about eighty
years later black-eared cattle existed in the Chillingham
herd is thus completely confirmed. Some have indeed
supposed that Bewick meant that. calves were occasion-
ally born, twenty years before he wrote, with black ears,
but his words scarcely bear that construction—“ There
were a few’—that is, in the herd—“ with black ears.”
These were clearly the remains of the “ black-ear’d”
ones, which had been so much more numerous, relatively
to the rest, in William Taylor’s time, in 1692. It
follows that originally there was a tendency to produce
ears of either colour, and that at Chillingham, as in
some other herds, the uniform prevalence of red ears
has been obtained by selection.

156 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

It would seem from this statement that “my
Lorde’s wilde beasts” were scarcely so wild then as
they are now: at least, their range was apparently more
circumscribed ; for it looks as if they were not ordi-
narily admitted to the “ Upparke,” though they may
have been at certain times. But their supposed wild
origin is thus strongly confirmed, for nearly two cen-
turies since they were called ‘“‘ wilde beasts,” the very
name by which the Chartley cattle also went; and in
both places, so remote from each other, and, I might
add, in many others, the tradition and belief with regard
to their wild origin was the same.

“With respect to the habits of the Chillingham wild
cattle,” says the late Lord Tankerville in his letter to
Mr. Hindmarsh, “it is probable that you will learn
more from Cole, who has been park-keeper at Chilling-
ham for many years, than from any information that I
can give. I can mention, however, some particulars.
They have, in the first place, pre-eminently all the
characteristics of wild animals, with some peculiarities
that are sometimes very curious and amusing. They
hide their young, and feed in the night, basking or
sleeping during the day. They are fierce when pressed,
but, generally speaking, very timorous, moving off on
the appearance of any one even at a great distance ; yet
this varies very much in different seasons of the year,
and according to the manner in which they are ap-
proached. In summer I have been for several weeks at
a time without getting a sight of them—they, on the
slightest appearance of any one, retiring into a wood,
which serves them as a sanctuary. On the other hand, in
winter, when coming down for food into the inner park,
and being in constant contact with people, they will let

LORD TANKERVILLE’S DESCRIPTION. 157

you almost come among them, particularly if on horse-
back. But then they have also a thousand peculiarities.
They will be sometimes feeding quietly, when, if any
one appears suddenly near them, they will be struck
with a sudden panic and gallop off, running one over the
other, and never stopping till they get into their sanc-
tuary. It is observable of them, as of red deer, that
they have a peculiar faculty of taking advantage of the
irregularities of the ground, so that, on being disturbed,
they may traverse the whole park, and yet you hardly
get a sight of them. ‘Their usual mode of retreat is to
get up slowly, set off in a walk, then a trot, and seldom
begin to gallop till they have put the ground between
you and them in the manner that I have described.

“In form they are beautifully shaped. They have
short legs, straight back, horns of a very fine texture,
thin skin, so that some of the bulls appear of a cream
colour; and they have a peculiar cry, more like that of
a wild beast than that of ordinary cattle. With all the
marks of high breeding, they have also some of its
defects ; they are bad breeders, and are much subject to
the ‘rash’—a complaint common to animals bred in-
and-in, which is unquestionably the case with these as
long as we have any record of them.

“When they come down into the lower part of the
park, which they do at stated hours, they move like a
regiment of cavalry, in single file, the bulls leading the
van; and when they are in retreat the bulls bring up
the rear. Lord Ossulston was witness to a curious way
in which they took possession, as it were, of some new
pasture recently laid open to them. It was in the evening,
about sunset. They began by lining the front of a small
wood, which seemed quite alive with them, when all of

158 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

a sudden they made a dash forward all together in a line,
and, charging close by him across the plain, they then
spread out, and after a little time began feeding.”

To this statement Lord Tankerville subsequently
added the following remarks:—“I forgot to mention,
in my letter to Mr. Hindmarsh, a curious circumstance
with respect to the continuation of the breed of the wild
cattle. Several years since, during the early part of the
lifetime of my father, the bulls in the herd had been
reduced to three. Two of them fought and killed each
other, and the third was discovered to be impotent, so
that the means of preserving the breed depended on the
accident of some of the cows producing a bull calf.”

The date of this circumstance would be about the
year 1760, or soon after. It quite disposes of the story
often told, and mentioned in a note by Jesse in his
“ Natural History,” that the Chillingham herd was once
reduced by an epidemic to oxe cow in calf, which for-
tunately produced a bull, and that thus the herd was
renewed by inter-breeding of the closest kind. All this
is clearly a traditional exaggeration of Lord Tankerville’s
better authenticated fact. That the statement of Wil-
liam Taylor, the steward, with respect to the comparative
smallness of the herd in 1690, was correct, is also con-
firmed by this circumstance, which seems to show that
seventy years later it was not a large one. It increased
until seventy years after that, the date of Mr. Hind-
marsh’s paper, in 1838—the authority being old Cole,
the keeper—there were “about eighty in the herd, com-
prising twenty-five bulls, forty cows, and fifteen steers,
of various ages.” They seem, however—if their numbers
were not then somewhat overrated, as probably they
were—after that to have again decreased during the

MR. HINDMARSH’S ACCOUNT. 159

next twenty years; for the present Lord Tankerville,
who succeeded twenty-one years later, informs me that
in his father’s time they were “a smaller herd than they
are now, and that “they increase slowly, several dying
each year by accidents or by over-running their calves
when disturbed; and the cows breed slowly, owing to
having frequently the calves still sucking the second
year.”

For further particulars with respect to their habits
Lord Tankerville referred Mr. Hindmarsh to old Cole,
“who had been park-keeper upwards of thirty years,”
so that his experience of the cattle would extend to
quite the commencement of this century. Mr. Hind-
marsh therefore visited Chillingham in June, 1838, and
reported as follows :—

“No sight could be more beautiful than they were
when we saw them retreating in regular order into their
forest sanctuary. Their perfect symmetry, pure white
colour, and fine crescent horns,.render them, when moving
in a body, a very imposing object. ‘The eyes, eye-lashes,
and tips of the horns alone are black; the muzzle is
brown, the inside of the ears red or brown, and all the
rest of the animal white.* Even the bulls have no
manes, but only a little coarse hair upon the neck; and
they fight for supremacy until a few of the most power-
ful subdue the others, who submit to the rule of superior
physical strength. If by accident a bull gets separated
from the herd for a day or two, his settled relation seems
to be forgotten, for on his rejoining it a fight ensues,
and the conflict continues until the previous amicable

* Mr. Hindmarsh omits the hoofs, which are also quite black, and, as
regards the manes of the bulls, it must be remembered that he saw them
in the height of summer, when the hair is comparatively short.

160 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

understanding is re-established. The cows generally
commence breeding at three, and continue to breed for
a few years. When they calve they hide their young
for a week or ten days, and repair to the place of con-
cealment two or three times a day for the purpose of
suckling them. Should any person happen to approach
their hiding-place, the calves clap their heads close to
the ground, and lie in form like a hare.

“They bear the winter well, but in severe weather
will come into a fold to eat hay, although they will not
taste turnips. They are seldom allowed to live more
than eight or nine years, at which period they begin to
go back. When slaughtered, the steers are usually six
years old, and weigh about 5cwts. (40 stone). The
beef is finely marbled, but in taste scarcely distinguish-
able* from that of the domestic ox when fed on grass.
By taking the calves at a very early age, and treating
them gently, the present keeper succeeded in domesti-
cating an ox and a cow. ‘They became as tame as
domestic animals, and the ox fed as rapidly as a Short-
horn steer. He lived eighteen years, and when at
his best was computed at 8 ewts. 14 Ib. (65 stones).
The cow only lived five or six years. She gave little
milk,.but the quality was rich. She was crossed by a
country bull; but her progeny very closely resembled
herself, beg entirely white, excepting the ears, which
were brown, and the legs, which were mottled.

“In their wild state few die from disease, and in the
present keeper’s time few from calving. Itis remarkable
that during the thirty-three years Mr. Cole has been

* This is certainly a mistake. I and many of my neighbours, who
tasted the round of beef sent to me from Chillingham, at Christmas, 1874,
are prepared to maintain the contrary.

MR. HINDMARSH’S VIEWS. 161

keeper he has perceived no alteration in their size or
habits from in-breeding, and that at the present time
they are equal in every point to what they were when
he first knew them. About half a dozen within that
period have had small brown or blue spots upon the
cheeks and necks; but these, with any defective ones,
were always destroyed.”

It ought perhaps to be added that Mr. Hindmarsh’s
paper goes on to discuss “the high antiquity of the
Chillingham breed of wild cattle,’ as shown in Lord
Tankerville’s letter. He remarks that “the testimony
of the two Moscrops, connected with the contemporaries
of the first Moscrop, would almost carry us back a
period of two hundred years, when their origin seemed
to be veiled in the same obscurity as at present exists
respecting it. To this,” he says, ‘“‘must be added the
negative proof derivable from the absence of all record
of their introduction into the park.” Mr. Hindmarsh
proceeds to state his belief that the Chillingham wild
cattle are of the same race as the Caledonian wild bull,
and gives his reasons for that opinion; and both he and
Lord Tankerville make statements with regard to other
wild breeds which had been preserved at Chartley,
Cadzow, Drumlanrig, &c. All this will be fully con-
sidered in its proper place.

As a sequel to the accounts of the late Lord
Tankerville and Mr. Hindmarsh, it may be worth
mentioning that one of the last of the great hunts of
the wild cattle, as practised in ancient times, and as
described by Culley, is said to have taken place in the
year 1826, when a bull was shot by Harl Clanwilliam,
the clean carcase of which weighed fifty-six stones. One
half of this was sent as a present to King George IV.

L

162 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Old. Cole’s son, who died a few years since, park-
keeper at Windsor, was in his younger days a great
hand at “riding out the bull” from the rest of the
herd—a service of much danger. ‘he risk was also
increased by the skill with which the savage animal,
when wounded, frequently concealed himself behind
inequalities of the ground, thus tempting his enemies to
approach too near, and charging them furiously when
they least expected it. Now they are generally stalked,
which lessens, but does not altogether remove, the
danger.

Such are the records of the past, many of them,
however, but little known. Before I enter upon the
more recent history of the herd, and my own ob-
servations thereupon, I will introduce some remarks
made in the intervening period by others. The
following is a graphic sketch of a view of the herd
which was obtained by one of the visitors to Chilling-
ham on the occasion of the coming of age of Lord
Ossulston, on the 3lst of December, 1850. He says :—

“Many of the visitors to Chillingham availed
themselves of the opportunity of viewing the wild cattle
in the park. At this season the herd are easily found
and can be viewed without difficulty, as they generally
assemble for shelter in a lightly-wooded corner of the
park, where hay is supplied to them every morning. In
the summer, when pasture is abundant, they are
commonly dispersed over the hills, and may be seen
occasionally bounding like deer across the prospect. It
is not always safe to approach within sight or smell at
that season, especially when the cows of the herd are
rearing their calves, as they will then assume the
offensive against any intruder without hesitation. At

MR. DIXON’S ACCOUNT. 163

all seasons the herd are excessively timid, and will allow
no one to approach unobserved within two or three
hundred yards of them. By dexterously availing one-
self of the shelter of the adjacent trees, it is possible, as
we did, to get to much closer quarters, and observe the
habits of the hardy, agile, and noble creatures, who
were quietly feeding in the glen. At the first hearing,
or perhaps smell of us, however, the nearest of the herd
suddenly erected his head with the action of a deer, and
backed in among the others, who, taking the alarm, all
sheered off as if preparing to take flight. Not caring to
disturb them in their feeding, we did not attempt to get
closer, but could easily observe the essentially wild and
unsocial habits of the herd.”

Mr. H. H. Dixon (“‘ The Druid ”) was the last person
who published any account of the herd, in his “Saddle
and Sirloin,’ in 1870, having seen it a few years
previously. He admits that “in compiling this book,”
“he could do no more than touch on what appear to be
leading points.” I give only so much of his description
as may be at once novel and well authenticated :—

“We got within a hundred yards of them. We
might have got nearer; but a herd of startled bucks
trotted past them, and as one rose they all rose and
moved off at a foot’s pace, the old bull behind and
the king bull leading.” “The herd is generally kept
up to eleven bulls, seventeen steers, and thirty-two
females, or three score in all.” ‘It was the practice
to make steers of them when they dropped; but it
was a very dangerous one, and spoilt the bull selec-
tion as well.” “If it is fair weather they go up
the hill, and if stormy they remain below. They
often scour a good deal in warm weather. The bulls

L 2

164 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

eat very much at night, and mostly in company, and
are of a more tawny shade than the cows, as they fling
the dirt very much over their shoulders when they kneel
to challenge.* Both sexes have black nostrils, horns
tipped with black, and a little red within the ears; and
in their general look they partake of the Charolais and
Highlander combined. Their offal is rather coarse, +
and they have sometimes a tendency to be high on the
tail as well as upright on the shoulder. Like Highland
herds going along a road, they are subject to panics, and
two gallops in the course of a week, one season, owing
perhaps to the rustling of deer near them, cost nearly
every cow her calf. The calves are dropped in the fern,
but they are sad little Tartars; and if they have been
housed it takes nearly two months to take off the tame
smell. Their sense of smell is exceedingly acute, and a
cow has been seen to run a man’s foot like a sleuth-
hound when he had run for his life to a tree. While
Sir Edwin Landseer was taking sketches for his cele-
brated pictures, the herd went into action, and he was
glad to fly to the forest as they passed by.”

* It is rather owing to the dirt, which, like all other cattle, they paw
up in hot weather, finding a lodgment among the more abundant and
mane-like hair of their fore-quarters.

+ This is a great mistake; their offal is most wonderfully light.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Chillingham Herd (continued)—Shooting of a Bull by H.R.H. the Prince of
Wales—Visit of Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell, Mr. Booth, and Mr. Thornton—
My own Visit in 1874—Length of Time the Calves are suckled—Desirability
of examining Creswell Moss for Fossil Remains.
THE great event which of late years has brought the
Chillingham cattle prominently before the public was
the successful pursuit by the Prince of Wales of the
noblest unreclaimed animal our country still produces,
the yet wild and even savage descendant of Caledonia’s
wild bull. His Royal Highness, a true Briton in his
love for field sports, had long taken his part in them at
home, and abroad had shown his skill in pursuing and
_ bringing down the wild animals of various kinds with
which the carefully preserved domains of the monarchs
of Russia and Prussia abounded. But two of the
noblest denizens of Hurope’s primeval forests he had
never yet seen in a state of nature: the Huropean
Bison, still preserved by the Czar of Russia in a remote
forest of Lithuania,* and the still living descendant of
Czsar’s indomitable Urus in a similarly wild state in his
own country. Chillingham had the honour of making
him acquainted with the latter.
On the 15th of October, 1872, + the Prince and

* Bialowitz, or Bialowiera.

+ For the following particulars I am partly indebted to Mr. Robert
Redpath, of the Newcastle Daily Journal, who has sent me the accounts
published in that paper; and partly to Mr. Michie, the head keeper,
who accompanied and directed the Prince.

166 WILD WHITL CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Princess of Wales arrived at Chillingham Castle, and
were received, not only by its noble owners, but by the
whole of the Border-land, with a right royal welcome.
The day after their arrival was devoted to partridge
shooting on Lord Tankerville’s farms near Wooler; and
on the 18th, Northumbria’s noblest and best came to
do honour to their future sovereign, when the hounds
met at Chilingham. The morning of the intermediate
day, the 17th, was given up to the foremost object of
the visit—the chase of the wild bull.

A little before nine the start was made through
the gardens and grounds on the south front of the
Castle, from which, at something less than a quarter of
a mile, access is gained to the park. The Prince was
accompanied by Lord Tankerville, and attended by
Michie, the head keeper, by the assistant keeper, and by
his own gilly. At first the Prince rode a pony ; but,
as they got nearer to the cattle, this was exchanged
for the hay-cart, a long, light country cart—one of the
vehicles ordinarily used by the farmers of Northumber-
land, from which in winter the animals are foddered.
When the “ deer-hamel,” which is rather more than a
quarter of a mile within the park, was reached, the wild
herd was first seen. Its members were then gathered to-
gether upon the large and extensive wood plain in the
lower part of the park, and were quietly grazing in a single
group. The Prince and Lord Tankerville then entered
the cart, which also carried some hay. Various attempts
were made to approach the herd, and much time was ex-
pended in endeavouring todo so. The cattle were jealous
and suspicious ; they kept moving about from place to
place; they sometimes separated and divided into
smaller bodies ; and there was much fear that if pressed

BULL SHOT BY THE PRINCE OF WALES. 167

they might gallop off together, and retreat to the
heights of Rosscastle. Great caution was therefore
observed ; but at last the hunters found, on reaching
the end of the Fox Knolls, that the cattle had gone up
through that wood, and were all in one body at the edge
of the wood on the flat ground above. They once more
observed their pursuers, and moved a little higher
up. Driving, however, alongside of the wood, and
partly under its cover, the sportsmen got at last
within a reasonable distance of them. But unfortu-
nately the king bull, the object of pursuit, was
surrounded by the mass of his subjects, and there was
no possibility of getting a shot at him with any
probability of hitting a vital part. The herd made
several slight changes of place and position, but the
king bull still remained covered. At last he drew
himself out from among the herd and came to the front.
Soon afterwards he turned nearly broadside to the
hunters. In an instant the Prince fired, and the noble
animal lay dead upon the spot. The rifle bullet had
entered the neck at about six inches from the base of
the horn, cutting through the spine, and of course
producing instant death.

The Prince, before firing, had left the cart, and
the keeper observed to me how amenable to dis-
cipline was the heir of the crown. Michie advised
the Prince to kneel on one knee, in order to take
more certain aim, and the advice was followed. This
has not always been the case, especially with foreigners,
whom Michie considers particularly indisposed “to
bend their knees.” The Prince of Wales’s shot was
unquestionably a most excellent one. The distance was
measured, and found to be seventy yards. The sharp,

168 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

clear report of the rifle rang through the park, and
was heard in the neighbourhood of the Castle, where
many of the visitors were watching, with the aid of
glasses, in the direction the sportsmen had pursued,
the concussion telling that the objects of their search
had been arrived at. The frightened animals of
various kinds which were quietly browsing or resting
near, fled terrified in all directions. The cattle seemed
in great bewilderment, and trotted off to some distance,
apparently amazed that their monarch did not join
them. <A couple of red deer, in the greatest alarm,
flew to the head of Rosscastle, where they stood for
some time upon the very peak of the eminence, their
dark profiles showing out clear and distinct against the
bright blue sky of that beautiful sunny day.

In the afternoon the body of the animal was brought
down to the Castle and inspected by the visitors. At
the special request of the Prince, the carcase, weighing
about sixty stones, was given to the poor of the neigh-
bourhood, and the grand head, bearing a pair of mag-
nificent horns, together with the neck as far as the
shoulder—also the remainder of the skin, and the hoofs,
each separately—were preserved in superb style by
Mr. Edwin Ward, F.ZS., of Wigmore Street, London,
in order to adorn their Royal Highnesses’ residence at
Sandringham. These I saw at the time at Mr. Ward’s,
and shall subsequently allude to. Of the stuffed head
I am enabled to give a representation.

Something less than ten months after this, as I was
myself unable to do so, my friends, Mr. Chandos-Pole-
Gell, Mr. Booth of Warlaby, and Mr. John Thornton,
the celebrated Short-horn auctioneer, in company with
Mr. Jacob Wilson, Lord Tankerville’s agent, all men

MR. CHANDOS-POLE-GELL’S VISIT. 169

well acquainted with every description of British cattle,
visited the Chilingham herd. They crept up through
the fern, to within about two hundred yards’ distance
of the herd, part of which were standing and part
lying down, and, by means of glasses, obtained an

HEAD OF THE CHILLINGHAM BULL SHOT BY H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.
(Engraved, by permission, from a Photograph taken by the London Stereoscopic Company.)

excellent view of the cattle without disturbing them.
Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell, whose long experience with
regard to every description of cattle, and whose
acquaintance with their breeders, is larger than that of
any man I know, made to me the following remarks
upon them :—

“As far as I could judge, their form bore most resem-
blance to the unimproved Yorkshire cow of former days,

170 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

on a smaller scale; but this especially struck me in the
shape of the dimd quarters, which I thought were long
in proportion to the size of the animal. The hair also
seemed somewhat similar to that of Short-horn cattle,
and this opinion was further confirmed by Sir Edwin
Landseer’s pictures at the Castle. I have sometimes
seen black Welsh cattle not unlike the Chilingham
breed, and the horns in this case were formed in the
same way, but not so large, and not set on the head in
the same peculiar manner—as if they were constantly
expecting an attack from some enemy.” In these
remarks Mr. Booth altogether concurred. Mr. Thorn-
ton, agreeing generally with them, said: ‘‘ The muzzles
were guite black; the ears reddish, particularly inside ;
and I thought some of the bulls rather steerish about
the head.”

Speaking from my own observation, I have no doubt
that the above remarks are in the main correct.
Riitimeyer, while believing that the Chilingham wild
bull is the legitimate descendant of the Urus, yet states
that: “Certain it is—and this corresponds exactly with
the opinion of Nathusius—that the Chillingham skull
shows in no way any marks of that of a wild animal.
It is remarkable rather for the uncommon fineness and
delicacy of its bones, which are never to be found in
the real wild cattle, to examine which I had ample
opportunity. I should, therefore, if the skull had come
to my hands from an unknown source, never have
hesitated to declare that it was not that of a wild
animal.” Such being the variations in the osteological
structure which have taken place in the Chillingham
ox, we may, of course, expect to find corresponding
changes in the external form, character, and appear-

CHANGHS IN CHARACTER. 171

ance. In these respects also the same fineness and
delicacy would be, of course, developed, and Czsar’s
great and indomitable Urus would necessarily be
reduced, in a series of ages—though still retaining
much of its wildness—into a much smaller, more
elegant, and deer-like animal: partial confinement
and submission to man’s behests, but far more con-
tinuous inter-breeding, being the causes of the
change. These have produced the ewe-like light
neck, clean jaws, and excessive refinement of head
in the cow, which Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell considered
so strongly resembled those parts in the Yorkshire
cow, the efforts of whose breeders have for ages been
exerted to produce those characteristic points. Bake-
well’s in-and-in bred bulls had the same semi-steerish
character and great dissimilarity in this respect to
their ancestors, the old coarse-boned Cravens, being
deficient in what the farmers call /eather. Grand,
majestic, noble, such an animal may, and, in the case
of the Chillingham wild bull, does remain; but it is
a grandeur, majesty, nobility in some degree varying
from the pristine character, and more resembling, as
may be seen in Landseer’s pictures, those qualities in
the stag, now it has lost the elephantine size and
coarseness of bone, and the lon-like ferocity of its
remote ancestors.

At the time of this visit the herd consisted of
sixty-four head—seventeen bulls of all ages from calves
upwards, nineteen steers, and twenty-eight cows, heifers,
and female calves. Lord 'Tankerville told my friends
that Professor Owen had strongly advised him never
to let the breeding cows sink to fewer than twenty
in number.

172 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

My own visit to Chillingham was paid something
more than a twelvemonth later. At half-past seven in
the morning of August 25th, 1874, I started for
Chillingham from the very comfortable ‘‘ Blue Bell” Inn,
at Belford, accompanied by the Rev. C: 8. Holthouse
and Mr. Jacob Wilson. Immediately after leaving
Belford in a rather south-westerly direction, the ground
begins to rise with considerable rapidity, till at the
distance of two or three miles you get high above the
sea-level, and a magnificent prospect opens. Seawards,
we saw the vast expanse of the German Ocean, studded
near the coast with the Fern Islands, Holy Island,
Lindisfarne, and the Long Stone—the scene of the
heroic exploit of the brave young maiden, Grace
Darling, the saviour of the shipwrecked crew of the
Forfarshire. All these lay lke a map beneath us,
while Northumbria’s rocky shore, fringed with feudal
castles, extended far in both directions. A _ little
further on, and when we had got to the height of
Chatton Moor, bare and cold even on that fine August
morning, there broke on us the inland view, the grand
amphitheatre of the cloud-capped Cheviots—‘“ The
Cheviot” himself, far to the north, their gigantic leader
—while between us and them stretched for miles the
lovely valley, Glendale, every part of it teeming with
historic reminiscences. Yeavering Bell, formerly sacred
to the mystic rites of the Druids; Ford, Wark, and
other Border castles, the sites of a hundred skirmishes
and battles; above all, Flodden’s ever memorable field:
all these were seen in that glorious picture, full of
every kind of form and colour, every variety of hght
and shadow, which was then presented to our view.
We made a bend in a southerly direction and right in

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF CHILLINGHAM. 173

front of us there rose, some three miles distant, the
southern boundary of Glendale, Chillmgham Park,
“terrace upon terrace, with the white dots not far
below the sky-line which told of its famous cattle.”

From this point the road rapidly descends into the
valley, and we soon passed through the village of
Chatton, formerly celebrated for its royal residence and
demesne, where Edward I., while prosecuting his designs
with regard to Scotland, often stayed, and passed much of
his time in hunting; possibly in hunting; the ancestors of
those very wild cattle which now graze on Chillingham’s
opposite hill. The two properties are contiguous, and
Chatton, formerly a demesne of the De Vescies’, now
belongs to the Percies. Two miles further brought us
to Chillingham; but first we crossed the historic river
Tull, here only a mountain stream, but which, a few
miles lower down the valley, after receiving numerous
tributaries, arrives at Wooler, where Surrey stayed on
the eve of Flodden; and a little further on at the field
of Flodden, where it separated the English and Scottish
armies on that eventful morning, when

“From Flodden ridge
The Scots beheld the English host
Leave Barmore Wood, their evening post,

And heedful watched them as they crossed
The Till by Twisel Bridge.”

A little further brought us to Chillingham Castle,
a grand baronial residence, square, and with four mas-
- sive towers, one at each angle of the building, and
enclosing a courtyard within it. The outer walls are
of immense thickness and of great antiquity. The
character of the whole structure is ancient ; for though
it has received slight alterations in each successive age,

174 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

and is now replete with every modern comfort, the
tout ensemble 1s undoubtediy medizeval, and so are the
majority—externally, at least—of the details. A fine
decorated window high up in one of the towers, called
“King John’s window,” was pointed out to us.

The park—originally of 1,500 acres—is now, ex-
clusive of enclosed woods, about 1,100, some 400 acres
near the castle having been taken off a few years since.
This latter helps to supply the considerable quantity of
hay required. It is proposed, however, to add to the
higher and further portion of the park, and so to make
up the deficiency. A short walk through the grounds
brought us to its enclosure. Just before this we crossed
“The Dell,” a pretty spot, through which flows the
Chilingham Burn, which, originating in several springs
within the park, and receiving afterwards some small
mountain tributaries, passes the Castle and is finally
absorbed in the ‘Till, below Chatton. The park abounds
with every species of game. A herd of seventy head of
red deer and one of about 400 head of fallow deer are
kept up; hares and rabbits are plentiful; the purlieus
of the castle swarmed with pheasants, which constantly
crossed the path; in the centre of the park is a
heronry; and when we got higher up the black-cock
rose before us.

The head keeper, Michie—a Scotsman, full of the
cleverness and shrewdness natural to that country,
conducted us. He has been here for many years, and
had the honour of being recommended for the post by
Sir Edwin Landseer himself. As the best mode of
approach, we took, by the advice of the keeper, Michie,
the light hay-cart which had served the Prince of
Wales so well, and to which the cattle are accustomed,

CHILLINGHAM PARK. 175

since it conveys hay to them in winter. We traversed,
however, the lower part of the park on foot, for, as it
was a bright, clear, hot day, the wild cattle, as is their
wont, were high up on the hill, and we had some
distance to go before we came to them. The lower
part of the park is wide and spacious, and of no great
elevation above the valley below; and is very good
land. It is well wooded and very wild, abounding in
many places with fern and gorse, which, near the little
rivulets, grow to the height of a man’s head; in others
with large breadths of good grass. In these forest
glades and wide, open, intermediate spaces, hundreds of
deer, both red and fallow, were grazing. As we rise
higher above the sea-level the deciduous timber ends, and
there is a long, large, tolerably flat, open plateau of grass,
where the cattle were when we saw them. It has
been proposed to name this “The Prince of Wales’s
Plain,” for it was there that the Prince for some time
pursued and finally shot the wild bull. The ascent to
this high terrace is gradual. On the steep slope below
it is “ The Fox Knolls,” a fine, thick, but open wood of
larch, beech, and oak. Above it, on the still more pre-
cipitous hill-side, is a large wood of Scottish fir, called
Ross-hill Wood; and above that stretches to the summit
of Rosscastle, the heather. Besides Chillingham Burn,
several small mountain streamlets rise in the park, and
supply it abundantly with the purest water. Towards
the centre of the park, as you proceed southwards, but
near to its western boundary, is “ Robin Hood’s Bog,”
a characteristic name, pointing apparently to times long
past, and “to which,” it is said, “ the wild cattle, when
disturbed, habitually resort, and to which tradition points
as their pristine habitat.” This is the place called by

176 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

the late Lord Tankerville “their sanctuary,” and by
Mr. Hindmarsh ‘their forest sanctuary.” It is a large
and extensive dog, several acres in extent, in the middle
of which grow alders, birch, hazel, and a few stunted
oaks ; while connected with it, but on the drier ground,
is a wood of beech, larch, &c. The whole forms the
“forest sanctuary’ of the wild cattle. Is it possible,
from its traditionary name, that the celebrated outlaw
of the Middle Ages, when he wanted change, or when
his loved Sherwood had been rendered unsafe in con-
sequence of his predatory incursions, may have left the
latter for a time, and struck down with his good long-
bow the ancestors of Chillingham’s wild bulls?

Having traversed the lower part of the park, we
crossed one of the small brooks I have mentioned ; where
a wide and good ford, well stoned, had been made. This,
we were informed, was quite necessary, for if the passage
was narrow, and the cattle when alarmed crossed the
brook ex masse and with great rapidity—as was then their
wont—they would get so jammed and crushed together
that accidents to the younger ones would certainly
occur. Not far also from Robin Hood’s Bog we saw
the deer-hamel, near which the wild cattle are fed in
winter. Formerly they were fed in the winter season
with hay only, but in the winter of 1873-74 they were
for the first time fed with cut hay mixed with meal, of
which they are very fond. This food “is put into
boxes set down in a large circle, at from eight to ten
yards apart.” We next examined the very ingeniously
constructed “‘ trap ” in which one of them is occasionally
secured for the purpose of castration, &c. Its dimensions
are eighteen feet long by eight wide, with a gate at each
narrow end. These are fastened open, and the cattle

HOW THE CATTLE ARH TRAPPED. 177

are tempted to go through it by hay placed in the park
beyond. When they have become accustomed to this,
lyers-in-wait stand prepared in a plantation, which
skirts the “trap” and goes up to it on one side. In
this, some twenty yards distant, is a roughly constructed
place of concealment, which hides the man who manages
the “trap.” From him proceed thin ropes attached to
the spring-catches, which keep the gates at each end
open; and when he sees the required animal passing
through, he pulls the ropes. ‘The spring-catches in an
instant release the well-balanced gates at each end;
they shut with great rapidity, and the animal is en-
closed. The first notice he has is the sight of the
gate in front closing upon him in an instant. Much
alarmed, he backs, but the one behind him has closed
too. He makes frantic but useless struggles to escape
for his captors mount the platform on the outside, beyond
the reach of his furious attempts to gore them, fetter
him with ropes, drag him to the corner, and tie him to
a post. The operation is performed in the quickest and
most primitive fashion, and the anual is speedily re-
leased to rejoin the herd. No further attention is paid
to him, and bad consequences scarcely ever occur.
Michie, however, related to me a rather exciting case
which occurred in connection with the “trap” in the
spring of 1873. It shows pretty clearly how ferocious
_ the wild cattle are when thoroughly roused. I give it
in Michie’s own words:—‘ When enticing a young
bull into the trap, there happened to enter with him a
young cow. When she found herself secured and unable
to vent her rage upon her captors, she began to roar
and bellow so furiously that she soon brought the whole
herd to her rescue. They came, with their heads up in
M

178 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

a most determined manner, to free the captives. We
were obliged immediately to open the gates and release
the prisoners, for if we had not, the trap would have
been demolished in a few minutes. The same young
bull would never enter the trap again.”

We now walked through the park, all the time
gradually ascending, till we caught glimpses through
the trees of the white cattle lying down on the elevated
plateau described, considerably above us, and at the
distance of perhaps half a mile. We still walked quietly
on, till we got to a small grove of trees at the end of
the “Fox Knolls,’ from which we were shortly to
emerge in full view of the wild herd. Then my friend
and I got into and lay full length on the hay in the
bottom of the hay-cart; the others walked, stooping,
behind, or on the far side, in a great measure concealed.
Harry Rough, the driver, walked on the side nearest to
the cattle; for to the sight of him and his cart they are
more accustomed. The greatest caution is needful in
order to approach them. Strict silence was insisted
upon, and observed: and Michie bitterly complained |
how difficult he found it to enforce this upon the
majority of those who came to see them, though it is
so evidently necessary in order to avoid sending the
cattle off at a gallop, to their own possible injury and
to the disappointment of the visitor.

As it was, they were suspicious of us, gradually rose
up when we were about 300 yards distant, and quietly
drew off to a knoll a few hundred yards further off.
This would not do, and Michie told the driver not to
approach them so directly, but to take a somewhat
circuitous course by the side of the Fox Knolls, “as ae
we were going to gather sticks.” This they permitted,

APPEARANCE OF THE CATTLE. 179

and by degrees we got to within rather more than a
hundred yards of the herd, pulling up the cart close to
the edge, and somewhat under the cover of the adjoining
wood. They stood on the rising ground above us, and
we saw them to perfection during more than a quarter
of an hour, for we had opera-glasses and a telescope.
And a grand sight it was. The whole herd of about
seventy were grouped in constantly changing picturesque
bodies, enjoying the cool sea-breeze, which relieved at
that elevation the heat of that hot sunny day. We saw
clearly most of those small details which are described
elsewhere; their general outline and their red and black
points being distinctly visible. The older bulls—the
thicker and longer hair of their necks darkened to a
rich cream-colour by constantly pawing up the soil—
showed themselves in different attitudes to the greatest
advantage ; and noble beasts they were. ‘The cows were
singularly symmetrical and beautifully feminine in ap-
pearance. ‘The steers were not, relatively to the others,
so magnificent as at Chartley. Be the cause what it
may, at Chillingham the bull, at Chartley the ox, is the
grander animal of the two. The back-line of both sexes
was beautifully straight ; so also was the belly-line ; and
all agreed with the remark I made—that the owner of
many a prize Short-horn might have envied the exquisite
form of their hind quarters; and the stylish thorough-
bred manner in which their tails were set on. Their
excellence in this point had, as we have seen, previously
struck Mr. Pole-Gell also.

The pretty young ones, of all ages and of both
sexes, enlivened the interesting group. We saw several
of the calves suck their dams ; one heifer we particularly
observed when so employed. It was very large, and had

M 2

180 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

strongly developed horns; and we all agreed that it
could not be less than a year and a half, but was pro-
bably much nearer two years old. Michie deprecated
this, and wished it could be prevented, being decidedly
of opinion that the length of time the calves are often
suckled interferes much with the fecundity of their
mothers. Lord Tankerville has also expressed to me a
similar opinion; and from my own experience with
respect to domestic cattle, and from what I heard and
saw at Chartley, I have a strong impression that such is
actually the case. By this time the day had become
really hot, and the flies being troublesome, the herd,
though on the whole stationary, kept moving somewhat
irritably among themselves. They did not take much
notice of us, nor seem to be at all alarmed; but
some of the older cattle, both cows and bulls, occa-
sionally turned towards us, and looked at us jealously
and suspiciously; and it was quite clear to me that,
fearmg we might mean mischief, they always kept
us well in view. At last some of the younger ones
began to draw off a little, and the older cattle showing
a disposition to follow, we turned the cart round and
quietly retired.

We returned to the Gasdle, inspected its beautiful
grounds, and examined the large baronial venison larder,
so constructed that the carcase of one of the wild bulls
can be hung up by the heels. A simple method for
preserving the meat, which we were assured in no way
myures its flavour, was there in use. On the stone
floor stood an iron vessel, resembling a glue-pot. In
damp weather every day, in dry weather on alternate
days only, two table-spoonfuls of sulphur, alas flour of
brimstone, are placed in it, and (the windows and doors

LAST VIEW OF THE CATTLE. 181

being closed) are set on fire, and left to burn themselves
out. ‘The plan, we were told, was most efficacious; no
blue-bottle ever survived those fumes.

After a liberal entertainment, having some hours of
daylight still before us, we unwillingly left this en-
chanting place, and started for the town of Wooler, Mr.
Hope, the estate-bailiff, accompanying us as our guide.
Our route was for some miles in a westerly direction,
across the valley formed by the Wooler Water, a small
stream which falls into the Till a little below Wooler.
The high hill of Chillingham Park was behind us; that
on which Middleton, our first destination, stands is five
miles distant on the opposite side of the valley. All |
along as we went, at various turns of the road, we saw
Chillingham’s famous cattle, lying pretty nearly where
we had left them, on the far hill-side, in a long, clear,
white line, lit up by the bright sunshine. Nor did we
lose sight of them altogether until, after leaving Mid-
dleton, we were on the turnpike road which leads from
Morpeth to Wooler. Thence (so brilliant was the day,
and so rarified the fine northern air) we could see them
with the naked eye at more than five miles distance as
the crow flies, measured upon the Ordnance Map, and
regretfully took leave of them. We saw them unex-
pectedly again, however, on our return from Wooler,
when we called at the hospitable Vicarage of Chatton.
The twilight was closing in, and from the pretty garden
of the Vicarage, at a distance of about two miles, we saw
our old friends rise up after their long siesta, and move
off to feed.

Between Chillingham and Wooler, we drove to
Middleton Hall, the residence of Mr. G. H. Hughes,
which is just on the edge of the moors where the old

182 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Caledonian Forest ended. Considerably below this, in
the valley formed by the Wooler Water, and nearly
intermediate between it and Chillingham, lies the ex-
tensive Bog or Moss of Creswell, in the township of
Middleton Hall, and belonging to its owner. It was
some seventy acres in extent, but has now been drained.
Here have been discovered embedded some few remains
of wild animals—not perhaps of very ancient date, yet
belonging to a period when these animals themselves, as
well as the country they inhabited, were in a very
different state from what they are at present. We were
shown some of these remains preserved at Middleton
Hall. There were several very fine tusks of the wild
boar, and a pair of the antlers of the stag with twenty-
one points—the greatest number now produced by the
red deer at Chillingham being twelve. J much regret
that I was not able to procure there, in consequence of
Mr. Hughes’s absence from home, nor subsequently at
Wooler, any further information on this interesting
subject, nor even to discover whether the remains of
any species of Bos have ever been found there; but my
informants thought not. It is much to be desired that .
this bog, and perhaps Robin Hood’s Bog, in Chilling-
ham Park, should be more carefully examined; and
Lord Tankerville informs me that in the case of Cres-
well Moss this has been thought of. Probably the
remains of the Bos primigenius lie buried there; and
not only his: perhaps those of his descendants—the
intermediate link between him and the Chillingham
bull—might be also found. The reliquie of the
wild beasts that ranged the forest at the same time
having been. exhumed, those of the ancient Caledonian
wild bull may yet be discovered; and the great pro-

ANCIENT REMAINS PROBABLY LONGER. 183

bability is that, as in the case of the red deer, they
would indicate that the Caledonian bull of those days
was, though inferior in size to the ancient Urus, a
larger animal than the present Chillingham ox, yet of
the same type as both of them.

CHAPTER IX.

The Chillingham Herd (continuwed)—The Chillinghams essentially Wild Cattle—
Attacks upon Mr. Hope—upon Lord Ossulston—and the Keeper—Landseer’s
Pictures—Thin Red Line above the Muzzle—a Characteristic of the Herd—
The Mane—Tendency to Black in Ears and Horns—and to Black Spots.

I propose in this chapter to state further facts and

circumstances, the result of my own investigations with

regard to the habits and characteristics of the Chil-
lingham wild cattle, which tend to confirm or to correct
in various ways the statements previously published.

They are undoubtedly now, and for ages past have

been, essentially wild cattle. This has sometimes been

denied, on the ground that Highland kyloes, when
allowed to range in a semi-wild state, “get almost
like wild animals, acting exactly like these Chil-
lingham cattle.” I cannot see the force of this objec-
tion. It is based upon the fact that these kyloes
have made a certain progress towards reverting to a
state of nature ; and such is the case with all domestic
cattle when freed from subjection to man, and allowed
abundance of range and pasture. The full result (par-
tial only with the Highlander) has been attained in the
wild herds of the Falkland Islands and in those of the
northern island of New Zealand, all sprung from
domestic cattle which have resumed the feral state.

Their habits are those of essentially wild animals. But

it may be said that, this being allowed, it cannot be

shown that these Chillingham cattle have been always

VARIOUS HYPOTHESES. 185

wild. They may have been once domesticated, and
have again become feral, as in the above-named cases.
I fully admit that this hypothesis cannot be disproved
by direct testimony, though I think that history and
the circumstances of the country present an immense
amount of cumulative evidence in the opposite direc-
tion. Neither do I consider the solution of this question
of much importance, so far as regards the cattle them-
selves. They have been proved, on the high authority
of Riitimeyer, to be legitimate descendants of the Bos
urus ; and it appears to me to matter little whether they
have been continuously wild, or whether, once tamed,
they again became feral several centuries ago.

I am aware that some persons have supposed that
the Chillingham wild bull and his Caledonian ancestor
also may both have descended from the small Celtic Bos
longifrons. Riitimeyer’s anatomical investigations have,
I imagine, disposed of that opimion. And besides, the
smaller size of the supposed ancestor seems to render this
hypothesis untenable. Professor Nilsson asserts that in
every case domestic races of cattle are smaller than their
supposed wild ancestor; but whether this is so or not,
one thing seems certain: that continuous inter-breeding,
carried on for many generations, causes invariably,
among other effects, decrease in size. Leicester sheep,
bred for many years from the same flock alone, become,
in time, much smaller than their ancestors, or than
their congeners not similarly treated ; and all experience
would lead us to believe, what anatomy confirms, that
the ancient progenitor of the closely im-and-in bred
Chillinghams must have been a larger, and not a
smaller, animal than themselves.

It has also been argued that the Chillingham cattle

186 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

cannot be descended from Cesar’s Urus; for that, he
asserts, was quite indomitable, and could not even be
tamed “when. caught very young ;” while, notwith-
standing their natural wildness, two of the Chillingham
cattle, taken young, were thoroughly domesticated by old
Cole, the keeper. But then Cesar’s account may be in
some degree exaggerated. In a parallel case we know
he was in error; and on a point like this he could have
no personal knowledge : his information must have been
derived from others. Men have a natural tendency to
add to the wonderful; and I am not sure that even
now at Chillingham the possibility of reclaiming any
of the younger of the wild cattle would be universally
admitted by their keepers. It seems, however, pretty
clear that Cesar’s statement is exaggerated on this
point; for Sir Charles Lyell says :—‘“ It is, however,
beyond question that . . . towards the close of the Stone
and beginning of the Bronze Period the lake-dwellers (of
Switzerland) had succeeded in taming that formidable
brute, the Bos primigenius, the Urus of Cesar.” This
is exactly what we might have expected; for I am not
aware that (whatever may be the case with regard to
the Bison) it has ever been proved on good authority
that any species of os is, or ever was, unreclaimable.
It has been shown that when taken very young
these animals may be domesticated and tamed; but
nothing of the kind could be accomplished with those
partially, or wholly, grown up. They are essentially
“wild beasts,” fearmg, hatmg man: scenting him,
as related by Boethius; and I feel quite convinced
that if any of them were placed in captivity, his
description would be verified: they would be “sa
impacient that, eftir thair taking, they deit for import-

FEROCITY OF THE CATTLE. 187

able doloure.” It is to me very extraordinary that
they should be so wild as they are, considering that
they are confined in a park of 1,100 acres, where they
must often see man, and where they are fed by him in
winter ; and I cannot conceive that any kind of wild
animals would be, under the circumstances, wilder,
while most would be much tamer. They do not, as a
rule, willingly encounter man, but rather retreat, some-
times in a hurried manner, at his approach; but if-
followed up, they often show fight in the manner de-
scribed by Culley, and are never thoroughly to be
depended upon, even by their keepers, whom they so
often see. Many stories are told of their ferocity, and
of the hair-breadth escapes and numerous accidents
which occurred in the wild hunting of ancient days.
TI shall confine myself to two or three which have
occurred within the last few years, which are, therefore,
well authenticated, and in the majority of which the
present Lord Tankerville himself took part.

In one instance, lately, a full-grown steer lay dis-
abled, remote from the herd, in a far corner of the park.
Great was the sensation; for the rinderpest was then
prevalent. It was supposed that one animal had
been seized, and that the herd would fall a victim to
its fury. But, happily, that dire scourge never touched
Chillingham ; and the ailing steer was afterwards, when
slaughtered, found to be suffering from rupture. The
keeper, however, and Mr. Hope, ignorant of the cause,
went to examine him, and in order to get nearer
to him took the hay-cart. They drove it tolerably near
to him in front, an enclosed wood being behind him ;
and Mr. Hope got out and advanced towards him to
examine him more accurately. But this was not to be;

188 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GRHAT BRITAIN.

he rose, and finding himself in some measure closed in,
he charged with the greatest fury. Mr. Hope had
barely time to escape to the cart when the ox, dis-
appointed of his revenge, attacked the cart itself, and
made it ring with the strokes of his horns. Fortunately,
he butted at it behind, or it might have been upset.
Still more dangerous would it have been if he had
attacked the horse. However, he did not; and at last,
tired of these unavailing efforts, he drew off.

To even greater danger was the present Earl of
Tankerville, when Lord Ossulston, once exposed. <A
bull had been shot at and wounded, it was supposed
mortaliy. The pursuers, and among them his lord-
ship, were under cover in a wood; the bull was in the
open, not far off. Lord Ossulston advanced on horse-
back, rifle m hand, to despatch him. The wounded
bull charged in an instant furiously and suddenly ; and
before the horse could be completely turned round, and
got quite out of the way, he was gored and disem-
bowelled. Staunch, however, to the last, the noble
horse carried his master away at a gallop; but after
traversing 300 or 400 yards, he fell dead in a moment.
Nothing could have saved Lord Ossulston, for the place
was quite open, had not the attendants previously seen
the danger, and succeeded in diverting towards them-
selves the attention of the bull. The steed lay dead,
but the rider almost miraculously escaped. I stood
upon the spot, and retain a vivid recollection of it.

The following incident has been immortalised by
Landseer’s magnificent picture, “The Death of the
Bull,” which hangs over the sideboard in the dining-
hall at the Castle. In it also, as in the preceding one,
the present earl, when still Lord Ossulston, was

ATTACK UPON A KEEPER. 189

“concerned. This grand picture depicts the dead bull,
Lord Ossulston, the old keeper Cole, a pony, and the
good dog “Bran” standing by, all of them the size
of life. I give the narrative as it has been suppies to
me by Lord Tankerville himself :—

“<The Death of the Bull,’ by Landseer, represents
the bull that tossed the keeper (Barnes), and also the
favourite deer-hound, Bran, that held the bull at. bay
and saved his life. We used in those days to single
the bulls out of the herd to shoot them—a dangerous
amusement—instead of quietly stalking them. The
lower part of the park, which is now separated from
the portion above where the deer and cattle go, was at
that time kept for hay, and pastured afterwards by these
animals, which only fed there at night, and retired to
their own haunts in the upper part of the park at day-
light. When a bull was to be killed, one of the keepers
watched the gates, and when the main herd had passed
he shut in the bull alone, or a small portion of the herd
with him, in the lower park, where the plains were more
suitable for galloping. On this occasion the bull was
not to be foiled in this manner; he charged the fence,
and, smashing it, nearly got through, when he was con-
fronted by the man and his dog. It appears that the
man was either too bold or not active enough, for, on
advancing a few yards from the fence, he could not
regain it before the bull picked him up. We were at
breakfast, when we were alarmed by seeing Cole, the
head keeper, running across the lawn; rushing into the
hall, he begged us to come to the man’s assistance, as
he was. being tossed by the bull. I had to put down
my rifle, which I had seized, as my father (remembering
the escape I had previously had) would not otherwise

190 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

be pacified ; and probably it was lucky I did so, for I
took my dog Bran instead, and he reached the scene
of action quicker than we could. When we got within
sight of the spot, Bran saw in an instant what was
going on in the distance, and sprang off hke lightning,
and had bitten off the bull and held him safe at bay
long before we got up to him. So intent, however, was
the bull upon his victim, that he broke away several
times to return to him; but Bran was too powerful and
determined to give him a chance, and tore at his hocks
till he forced him to turn round again. So we got the
poor fellow into a cart.

“You would suppose that after such a mauling the
poor man would have little life left in him; but he
lived to be eighty-four, and he was still pursuing his
favourite vocation of trapping rabbits, &c., on the
Cheviots, when I met him there only three years ago,
with a heavy load of traps and rabbits on his back. It
seems a marvel that, with five broken nbs and a quarter
of an hour’s goring and tossing by a wild bull, his days’
should not have been shortened to something less than
this patriarchal term of life. ‘The man who was tossed
was called Barnes; it is Cole who, as head keeper, is
represented in Landseer’s picture: but some poetic license
has been taken in his likeness. The animals, which were
Landseer’s forte, are perfect fac-similes.” *

If the keeper showed such tenacity of life, so also
did the bull; for the late Lord Tankerville, writing in
1838, gives us this sequel to the story. The keeper
having been withdrawn, several gentlemen, and among
them “a steady, good marksman,” fired “ upon the bull
from behind a fence, at the distance of twenty-five yards ;

* Letter of Lord Tankerville to me, dated October 22nd, 1874.

SIR EDWIN LANDSEER AT CHILLINGHAM. 191

but it was not till six or seven balls had actually entered
the head of the animal (one of them passing in at the
eye) that he at last fell. During the whole time he
never flinched nor changed his ground, merely shaking
his head as he received the several shots.” When such
is the Chillingham wild bull now, who shall say that
the account Boethius gives of the ferocity of the Cale-
donian bull, as he then existed on his unreclaimed native
wastes, is at all exaggerated ?

Having described the circumstances on which Land-
seer’s celebrated picture of “The Death of the Bull” is
founded, it may be proper to add here that this, though
on the largest scale, is not the only one, nor, in my
opinion, the most striking, of that celebrated artist’s
pictures which may be seen at Chillimgham. Nothing
can prove more fully the amiable kindness and discrimi-
nating taste of Chillmgham’s noble family than their
friendship for Sir Edwin Landseer. Whether they were
at home or not, it was just the same; Sir Edwin was
always at home at the Castle, and constantly spent weeks
of happy retirement there, sometimes with the family,
sometimes alone, but always welcome. And nothing
that I have said can so perfectly describe Chillingham
as that it was the favourite retreat of Landseer. Its
park abounded with those noble wild animals which he
so imtensely loved, and with such a master’s hand
delineated. No one interfered with him, and “he
used,” says Lord Tankerville, ‘to go for whole days
together into the park to study them; so he knew
them well.” No wonder that the place abounds with
reminiscences of this grand master. Not to mention
the beautiful sketches and smaller pieces which Lady
Tankerville carefully retains—and among these, oh!

"192 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

such a dog! a terrier starting alive out of the canvas !—
there are two, besides ‘‘The Death of the Bull,” and
nearly as large—for the animals are the size of hfe—
in the dining-hall. In execution and in interest I think
them even superior to that magnificent work of art.
They are at the opposite end of the room—companion-
pictures—on each side of the central doorway leading
to the library. On one side is the picture of ‘“‘ The Stag,
the Hind, and the Fawn;” on the other, “The Wild
Bull, the Cow, and the Calf.” I must leave the first of
these priceless pictures to notice—though I cannot do
justice to—the latter: “The Wild Bull, the Cow, and the
Calf ’’—all the size of life. The bull is very grand, as
he stands on a small rismg ground nearly facing the
spectator, and fore-shortened; the whole of the calf,
which occupies the lower portion of the picture, is also
shown ; but the cow, which stands across it, somewhat
higher than her calf, yet lower than the bull, is only
shown as far as the chine, her middle and hind quarters
being cut off by the requirements of the picture. They
all stand up, and the whole, apart from its beauty as a
work of art, is a wonderful study; for these are admir-
able portraits of the Chillingham wild cattle as they are,
painted by a master hand from life, and true to the very
smallest minutie. The character of both male and
female gives the strongest impression to the mind of
what may be technically called “blood and breeding.”
Grand, masculine, majestic is the bull; peculiarly sweet,
feminine, and elegant is the cow; and both are distin-
guished by what a breeder would call “style.” The cow
much reminded me, in the symmetry and beauty of form
of those parts shown, of some of the late Sir Charles
Knightley’s females; her type of head much resembled

MINOR POINTS OF THE CATTLE. 193

the proverbial elegance of theirs. A touch of humour
has been added by the artist to illustrate the well-
known fable. A contemptible little frog in front is
endeavouring to inflate himself to the size of the superb
bull.

This picture assisted me in coming to a conclusion
on one or two important points. I had previously been
informed by Michie that the Chillingham cattle had,
besides the red ear, a faint line of red hair, as if drawn
by a pencil, immediately above the black and _ hairless
muzzle, and intermediate between 1t and the hair of the
face, which, like that of the rest of the body, with the
exception of the greater part of the ears, is white. I
was much struck with this, for this characteristic has
never before been mentioned or alluded to; and I asked
Michie whether all the Chillingham cattle had this
mark. His reply was: “All; it is born with them,
and it dies with them.” And here was the confirma-
tion. ‘That pencil-line of red had not escaped the
notice of the observing lLandseer, but was clearly
shown in his faithful portraits.

It has been remarked by Youatt, and confirmed by
general observation, that white Short-horns have a great
tendency to red or roan ears. My own experience leads
me to believe that this is true ; and that when their ears
are not red or even roan, they will generally be found, on
examination, to contain a few red hairs. Mr. Chandos-
Pole-Gell and I have also, each independently of the
other, long since observed another resemblance between
the white Short-horn and the white wild cattle. We both
believe that in the white Short-horn a dark or stained
nose occurs more frequently than in those of any other
colour. ‘To these points of likeness I have now to add

N

194 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

that I have very often—I may say generally—observed
in the white Short-horn a tendency to have a few red
hairs in the same place where the faint pencil-line of
red hair occurs in the Chillingham cattle. Such simi-
larities can scarcely be accidental ; they probably indi-
cate affinity, though perhaps remote, in blood.

Another circumstance I noted first that day at
Chillingham. I had accepted as undoubtedly true the
assertion of all modern writers—Sir Walter Scott, Culley,
Hindmarsh, &c.—that the wild cattle had wholly lost
“the mane,” which, according to Boethius and Leslie, the
Scottish wild bulls three hundred years since possessed,
and which may even (if Dr. Leigh’s account of them is
to be so understood) have distinguished, 175 years since,
those belonging to Sir Ralph Assheton at Middleton, in
Lancashire. I had been content to accept the universally
received opinion, as stated by Culley, that the only
approximation to the manes mentioned by the old
writers is that ‘some of the bulls have a thin upright
mane, about an inch and a half or two inches long ”—
which is not unfrequently the case with domestic cattle
also. What, then, was my surprise when I saw in
Landseer’s picture that the mane of the bull was clearly
and distinctly shown. It was not, indeed, so strongly
developed as to resemble the mane of “the wild lion,” as
we are told that of the old Caledonian bulls did; yet
there undoubtedly it was, in a rudimentary yet distinctive
form, covering the forehead, extending over every part
of the neck right down to the dewlap, and suddenly
ending in a clearly marked line at the shoulders, which,
be it observed, were well thrown back. There it was,
“crisp and curland”’ over all those parts, while the hair
was “meek and tame in the remanent figure of thair

MANES OF THE BULLS. 195

bodyis ”—a very decided rudimentary mane, not so
large and long, but as clearly marked as in the hon ~
himself. I then remembered that such also was the
character of the hair of the neck of the Chillingham
bull shot by the Prince of Wales, and that it was
similarly contrasted with that of the rest of the body ;
although, as the head and the skin of the body were
preserved separately, and I did not see them together,
the difference in character of the hair was not so easily
observed. Such, too, though seen at some distance, was
evidently the case with regard to the older bulls we saw
in the park; the relatively larger amount of hair they
earried on their necks afforded greater opportunities for
the lodgment of the dirt they pawed up, and made
them of a deeper colour in that part.

Most strikingly was this mane seen too, even yet
more plainly marked, in a wood engraving of a Chilling-
ham wild bull by the celebrated Bewick, the fidelity and
truth of whose delineations of animals admit of not the
slightest question. It was a small print, framed, and
hung in one of the bed-rooms, and bore upon it, printed
underneath, its own verification: “Thomas Bewick,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1789 ”—that is, eighty-six years
since. No onecould give the most cursory glance at this
beautiful little print without being struck with the curly
mane, which is quite a remarkable feature of the grand
bull, full of wild grace and vigour, which is there
delineated. If the Chillingham bulls a century since
had manes like that, the description of Boethius cannot,
after all, be so much over-drawn ; for we should be led
to suppose that if the mane had been diminished some-
what in the time which elapsed between Bewick and
Landseer, much greater may have been its diminution

N 2

196 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

between the time of Boethius and that of Bewick, a
period of over 260 years. But that this mane still
exists is evident, not only from Landseer’s pictures, but
from his frequently expressed opinion—and no man ever
studied these cattle so minutely; for Lord Tankerville
informs me that ‘“ Landseer always talked about it as a
characteristic of them.” His lordship adds, what is
doubtless strictly true, that ‘‘ the mane is not so strongly
developed as in the Avson, and only in roughness and
curliness as compared with the rest of the skin.;’” and
that ‘it is more developed in some of the bulls than in
others, and becomes more so with age.” I have
suggested the possibility of restoring in some degree:
this feature by a certain amount of selection of the
bulls which have it most.

Perhaps I may be permitted to observe that I have
sometimes seen a tendency—I can scarcely call it more—
in some well-bred bulls of various Short-horn families to
produce a mane of this description, though of course to
a much more limited extent, and without the clear and
definite line of demarcation at the shoulder which
distinguishes the wild animal. As an illustration, I will
-mention the picture in the dining-room at Warlaby of
Mr. Booth’s celebrated and white bull, “ Windsor”
(14013).

The accounts which have been given, sufficiently
describe the general markings of the Chillingham cattle.
Like all other of the white herds with which I am
acquainted, they are subject to certain variations. ‘They
have not been proved, indeed, to have the same tendency
to produce black or black-and-white calves which some
other herds have; and we may, I think, take it for
granted that they either have no tendency to this, or at

THNDENCY TO BLACK SPOTS. 197

least that the disposition to do so is much less than it is
in many of the white cattle. But it seems certain from
Bewick’s account, taken together with the steward’s
book—both previously quoted—that formerly they had
a very strong pre-disposition to have red or black ears
indifferently ; and that the uniformly red ear which has
of late years prevailed is solely the result of selection,
the black-eared ones having been purposely destroyed.

In examining the horns of several of the Chilling-
ham cattle preserved by Mr. Briggs, the taxidermist, at
Wooler, I observed on one head—that of a bull—that
while one horn was absolutely pure white, without
a black stain on it, the fellow horn was very faintly,
almost imperceptibly, tinged with black towards the tip,
but nothing like so strongly as in many a high-bred
Short-horn. Iam informed by Mr. Jacob Wilson that
he believes these were the horns of a bull which he
knows was shot not long since on account of his horns
not being correct in colour. This is a strong proof of a
tendency to variation suppressed by selection.

But the strongest and newest fact which, as I think,
I have established, is the tendency which the Chilling-
ham cattle have to black or blue spots upon the neck.
This seems common to all the white races. Dickinson
describes “‘ the Caledonian Forest wild cattle °—by which
he means, I presume, those of Athole, Cumbernauld, &e.—
as “ being a dun, or rather flea-bitten white,” and having
black muzzles and ear-tips, with spotted legs; and he
says that the Drumlanrig breed “had the same
markings.” At Chartley, to my own knowledge, the
same description holds good ; some there might certainly
be called flea-bitten whites. The same tendency exists in
the Chillingham herd, though to a less extent than in

198 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

most others, as might have been expected : for this variety
has less tendency to black and more to red than most
others have. Old Cole, the keeper, informed Mr. Hind-
marsh that during the thirty-three years he had been
there, there had been ‘about half a dozen which had
small brown or blue spots upon the cheeks and necks ; but
these, with any defective ones, were always destroyed.”
Into this I determined to inquire further ; and I, there-
fore, about a month after he was shot, carefully examined
at Mr. Ward’s, in Wigmore Street, the remains, still there,
of the Prince of Wales’s bull. The head and neck had
been stuffed; and the skin, and the four feet also sepa-
rately, up to half-way between the fetlock and knee-joint,
had been preserved—and all these were intended for the
purpose of decoration at Sandringham. The neck, down
to the dewlap, and the upper part of the face was
covered with thick and very curly white hair—not very
long, for Mr. Jacob Wilson said he had not yet got his
winter’s coat; yet much longer and more curly, and
different in character from that on the rest of the body,
where it was straight, short, and not mossy in character.
The hoofs were as black as ebony. But what struck me
most was this: his cheeks and neck, and still more
perceptibly that part of the skin which had covered
the shoulders and the withers, had upon them
very distinctly marked small spots of a 6lack-roan
character. Some of them were as large as a sixpence,
some smaller, a few perhaps larger, and they were on
those parts numerous. Indications of the same thing were
apparent on the skin above the hoofs; on this part were
numerous, but isolated, black hairs; there was, moreover,
on one leg a black spot of the same size as those on the
neck. Armed with this information, I pressed Michie

BLACK SPOTS GENERAL. 199

on the subject; and he admitted that some of both the
old bulls and cows had “a few blue spots;” but he
said “this was indicative of old age”—a conclusion
which, after old Cole’s statement respecting the calves
with “ brown or blue spots upon the cheeks and necks,”
I considerably doubt. It appears to me rather indicative
of relationship to the “‘flea-ditten whites with mottled
legs” of the old Caledonian Forest and other places.
Possibly, too, an equally close examination might show
traces of this peculiarity in some of the younger cattle ;
but if not, it is quite in accordance with the statement of
Darwin, that many animals develop some hereditary
characteristics only when they arrive at a certain age.
The tongues of the Chillingham cattle are slate-coloured —
above, and of a reddish-brown colour on the under-side ;
the teats of the cows, unlike those at Chartley, are
white; and although the muzzle of these cattle is black,
the under-lip is white.

OECAP AGE xe

The Chillingham Herd (continwed)—Constitution and Government of the Herd—
Combats of the Bulls sometimes fatal—Calves produced at all Seasons—Con-
cealment of the Calves—Sick Animals often gored—Weight and Quality of
Meat—Statistics of the Herd, past and present—Questions of Fecundity
and Inter-breeding—No proof that the Herd has never been crossed—Herds
of Deer crossed—No Difficulty formerly in obtaining a Cross—Probability
that the Herd has been crossed.

Tue constitution of the Chillmgham herd is an abso-

lute monarchy. Atits head is always a male, who is

known as the king bull; he acquires his crown by virtue
of his own prowess, and must always be prepared to
defend it. The females are at his disposal, and the
less potent males obey him. The king bull generally
succeeds in maintaining his supremacy for two or three
years, while strength and vigour last; but when age
comes with years, bringing weakness instead of strength,
the failing monarch succumbs to a younger and more
energetic rival, who is again in his turn deposed, after

a somewhat similar interval, by the flower of the rising

generation. Few reign so long as the Prince of Wales’s

bull did, and he would have been previously deposed
had not the bull who would naturally have succeeded
him been shot for the purpose of sending him to the

Moscow Exhibition. Though, in case of alarm or of a

necessity of fighting for the protection of the herd, the

king bull takes the lead, it did not appear to me that
their ordinary movements were so systematised, and

Michie assured me they were not. The king bull—

COMBATS BETWEEN THE BULLS. 201

lord and master of the herd—remains in pretty close
attendance upon any cow which happens for the time
being to wish for his company, yet it seems clear that
he is not the sire of every calf born while he reigns
supreme. ‘The superior activity and vigilance of the
younger bulls enable them sometimes, perhaps not un-
frequently, to seize some happy opportunity, and to
outwit their potent and vigorous, but less energetic
monarch without the risk of a personal encounter with
him. Some remarkable instances of this were told us,
so that probably the influence of the reigning bull is
not so great, as regards the succeeding generation, as has
been usually supposed. At least, I apprehend that this
is, to a certain extent, the case in a herd so numerous
as the one at Chillingham, and in which so many adult
bulls are kept, whatever it may be under other circum-
stances.

When a younger bull thinks himself able to contest
the supremacy with his chief, he challenges him. This
is a small matter in itself, though often terrible in its
results ; he puts himself in the attitude of defiance and
paws the ground. The reigning monarch knows well
what it means, and the laws of honour compel him to
accept the contest. The duel is a desperate one; the
mastership of the herd the prize.

“The bellowing war begins :
Their eyes flash fury ; to the hollowed earth,
Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody deeds,
And groaning deep, the impetuous battle mix :

While the fair heifer, balmy breathing, near,
Stands kindling up their rage.”

The contest is no child’s play. Sometimes both
combatants perish, when very equally matched—both

202 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

gored to death. One such case the late Lord Tanker-
ville has mentioned ; and such a termination of the fray
seems to have been not uncommon in the fights between
their ancestor, the Urus; for no less than two cases
have been related in one parish—that of Bower, in the
county of Caithness—in each of which two skulls of
these large cattle were found locked by the horns
together, showing that they fought till they destroyed
each other. But generally the battle, though severe,
is less fatal. The old monarch, if beaten, retires, no
more to reign; the challenger, if discomfited, bides his
time, till his own increasing strength and his rival’s
advancing years allow him to renew the fight and gain
the victory.

Of Mr. Dixon’s statement of two young bulls at-
tacking the king bull “fore and aft” when he advances
in years, I could not obtain any confirmation. On the
contrary, the change of dynasty is accomplished in the
manner I have related above—by single combat, as
among the knights of old; and the rule is “a fair field
and no favour.’ Generally, at least, the remainder of
the herd look on quite passively, and there is no inter-
ference whatever with the two combatants. One re-
markable instance, however, I heard to the contrary.
The master bull was challenged, and fought with the
aspirant. ‘The herd watched the spectacle; they were
equally matched, and the result was yet doubtful, when
a jealous old bull, long since deposed and laid aside,
took the opportunity to revenge himself on his former
rival, charged the king bull a ¢ergo, and thus gave the
victory to the younger competitor. As the habits of
wild cattle are little known to us, I have thought it
desirable to relate these particulars.

HABITS OF THE COWS. 203

There is little fighting among the females; still
one is occasionally gored, and sufficient trials of strength
occur to decide the question of mastership. Michie
believes that the “order of precedency” is quite recog-
nised, and that every cow knows her own place quite as
well as do more high-born dames. ‘The period of ges-
tation has never been clearly ascertained; but it seems
singular—though nevertheless an undoubted fact—that
the cows calve in every month of the year, frequently
in January and February, and often when the snow 18
on the ground. I could not discover that any imstance
was known of their producing twins; certainly no such
case has occurred of late years. The cows conceal their
calves in the long grass or fern, and, as has been shown,
defend them with the greatest ferocity; while the newly-
born animal itself shows its instinctive wildness by
crouching quietly in its hiding-place, like the hare
when she nestles in her form. It has been said by the
old authorities that this concealment of the calf lasts
“for a week or ten days,” the cow, in the meantime,
going to suckle the calf two or three times a day.
This is in the main correct, but the calf does not appear
to be hidden for near so long a time as was supposed.
Michie, the present keeper—a very shrewd and in-
telligent man, of great observation—informs me that
“when a cow calves” (I give his own words) “she
chooses a secluded place to drop her calf, and rejoins
the herd the next and every succeeding morning, re-
turning to it at night and at other times to suckle it.
The cow introduces the calf to the herd on the third or
fourth day; and I have never known ut one case in
which the cow was five days before she brought the
ealf into the herd.

204 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

““T have known a few cases—when the weather was
cold and misty—of the cow not leaving her calf at all
till she brought it to the herd with her on the second
day after calving. Owing, no doubt, to the coldness,
the calf did not sleep sound enough for her to leave or
steal away from it.” Perhaps, too, it might require the
additional warmth of the mother lying by its side. This
last account is, I am informed, analogous to the habits
of park deer under similar circumstances.

With regard to their goring the sick, it appears
that such is the case. Michie says that “a sickly
animal is sure to be badly used. A case of the kind
came under my notice last year, when feeding the cattle
one morning. A bull made a rush at a sickly steer,
and threw him over. When he fell the cattle gave a
most unearthly yell, and closed in around him. At the
moment I had no doubt that they would gore him to
death ; but he lay quite still, apparently feigning death,
and in a few minutes they all went to their feed again.
The fallen animal then lifted up his head, and seeing
they were gone, he rose up and quietly followed after
them, as if nothing had happened.”

The weights of the Chillmgham cattle appear to be
somewhat less than they were said to be by Culley, but
his inquiries upon the subject may have been less strict
than mine. ‘The average weight of the steers is at
present rather less than 40 stones of 14 1b., that of
the cows about 30 stones. The heaviest steer killed of
late years weighed 42st. 3lb.; the heaviest cow
33st. 9lb. The adult bulls weigh heavier than
either. The clean carcase of that shot by Lord Clan-
william in 1826 weighed 56 stones; the one shot by the
Prince of Wales in 1872 weighed nearly 60 stohes. This

WEIGHT AND QUALITY OF BEEF. 205

great difference in weight between bulls and steers of a
like age may be owing to the late period at which the
latter are castrated—never under three years old. In
this respect the practice is obviously a disadvantage,
but the great risk and danger are avoided which would
attend this operation if performed on the calves when
their wild and furious dams are near at hand to defend
them, and it allows much greater choice in the selection
of the bulls. The steers are generally killed at from
six to eight years old, and the bulls at about the same
age. Some of the breeding cows are allowed to live
to a greater age. If domesticated, and treated lke
ordinary cattle, they would undoubtedly weigh much
heavier. ‘The steer which old Cole reared and tamed
was computed to have weighed, when at his best, 65
stones, but he would have been castrated when a calf.
It seems surprising that the beef of these steers, cas-
trated so late, should be so wonderfully good; yet so it is.
Mr. Jacob Wilson, by the desire of Lord Tankerville,
sent me the round of one of the wild oxen at Christmas,
1874. To test its merits thoroughly, I had it cooked
and discussed at a public dinner at Daventry ; dozens of
men tasted it, and some of the best judges in the
country, of beef alive or dead, formed the grand jury.
The verdict was unanimous. Gentlemen graziers, and
others, all declared that “ they had never eaten beef at
all equal to that.” All agreed, like the monks of old,
that the flesh far exceeded that of “their awin tame
bestial:” and Northamptonshire has plenty of good beef
of every possible sort.

This Chillingham ox was six years old, and the beef
was beautifully marbled and of excellent grain, in
colour very dark, like mountain mutton. It ate very

206 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

short, sweet, and tender, and yet had sufficient firmness.
The finest Scottish, Welsh, or Devon was inferior to it in
flavour; and the fat, of which there was abundance, was
delicious, and in elasticity on a par with that of the
best venison. The “quality” was extraordinary, and
was accompanied by what breeders and graziers always
regard as a test of “quality ”—great lightness of offal.
This piece of beef must have lost weight, for it had a
long journey from Northumberland to London, and
then down to Hellidon. When it came into my house,
I saw it carefully weighed, and the weight was forty
pounds to an ounce; while the bone it contained (which
I have preserved), when divested of the marrow,
weighed one pound, or sixteen ounces, only: a most rare
instance, I believe—two and a half per cent. of bone.
Other parts would, of course, have had a much higher
percentage of bone; yet in these, too, the percentage
must have been, relatively to most other cattle, very
small. Jt was this ‘‘ uncommon fineness and delicacy
of its bones” which struck Riitimeyer so much when he
examined anatomically the Chillingham os; and it
was this rare quality which rendered this same herd,
and others similarly descended, fitted to become—what
I fully believe they were—the great improvers, when the
coarse, big-boned cattle of former days required to have
their superabundant offal sensibly reduced.

The numbers of the herd appear to vary a good deal
at no long intervals. We have seen before that in
all probability in the year 1692, according to the
steward’s account, it consisted of only fourteen breeding
animals, bulls and cows, and calves of both sexes, and
twelve steers—in all twenty-eight. Mr. Hindmarsh
states that in 1838 there were “about eighty in the

STATISTICS OF THE HERD. 207

herd, comprising twenty-five bulls, forty cows, and
fifteen steers, of various ages.” But if this statement
is not an exaggerated one, it must have subse-
quently much decreased. In a letter to Mr. Darwin,
Mr. Hardy, then agent, said they numbered “ about
fifty.” That was in May, 1861. When viewed by
Mr. Thornton and others on the Ist of August, 1873,
it numbered sixty-four: namely, seventeen bulls and
bull-calves, twenty-eight cows, heifers, and calves, and
nineteen steers. Nearly fifteen months later, October
28, 1874, Lord Tankerville wrote to me thus :—“I
have succeeded in getting up the herd to a good head,
about seventy now, and quite up to the mark that I
wish them to be. But I was some time in getting
them up to this number, as they were a smaller herd in
my father’s time, and they increase slowly, several dying
each year by accidents or by over-running their calves
when disturbed ; and the cows breed slowly, owing to
having frequently the calves still sucking the second
year.” In the not quite five months that intervened
between that and March 22nd, 1875, the herd had
again considerably decreased. The number in October
was, I believe, actually seventy-one ; as many as twelve
died in less than five months following, while there
had been three births: so that in March, 1875, the
herd consisted of sixty-two—fourteen bulls and bull-
calves, thirty-one females, and seventeen steers.

It is interesting to trace, so far as is known, the
causes of these numerous deaths. ‘They are—

5 steers and 1 cow re en ete ee eS NG) Le
2 bulls and 1 old cow... ie) ee Gored:

1 steer, 1 cow, and 1 six months’ Died from causes
old calf unknown.

208 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The above account corroborates very strongly their
liability to “accidents,” to which Lord Tankerville has
alluded ; and it shows, too, that at times many deaths
take place from their gorimg one another. But though
disagreeing altogether, for other reasons, with the
arguments of Culley, who considers this “as a case of
long continued inter-breeding within the limits of the
same herd without any consequent mjury,” and agreeing
with those of Mr. Darwin, in his admirable chapter on
“Good from Crossing, and Evil from Inter-breeding,” I
yet cannot, as respects the Chillingham cattle, concur im
all the conclusions of the latter. Before it 1s admitted
that the “annual rate of increase ” in the Chillinghams
is “one in five”’ only, while that of the half-wild herds
in South America “is from one-third to one-fourth the
total number, or one in between three and four,” it
ought to be shown that this is a “fair standard of
comparison ” in the following respects—that the loss of
the latter from accidents is as great in the open plains
of Paraguay as it is in the steep and abrupt glens, the
narrow defiles, and thick woods of the confined park at
Chillingham: accidents, I mean, to the calf before birth
as well as after, for many calves are never born, in con-
sequence of the panics and stampedos to which their
dams are subject; thus Dixon says, as we have seen,
““¢wo such gallops in the course of a week, one season,
cost nearly every cow her calf.” It ought also to be
shown that the same cause of infecundity prevails in
Paraguay which is so common at Chillingham—the
cow suckling her calf when it is more than a year old;
this may or may not be the case there. But in addi-
tion, the very premises on which the conclusion is built
are in themselves fallacious—namely, that “‘the herd is

THE QUESTION OF IN-BREEDING. 209

kept up to nearly the same average number of fifty.”
It has really been raised of late to a much higher
average, and has increased since 1861 between thirty
and forty per cent.; the annual increase, therefore,
must have been much greater than that supposed, even
under disadvantages which have not yet been proved to
apply to the semi-wild herds of Paraguay.

I consider that the relative infecundity of the
Chillingham cattle has been scarcely proved in itself, and
still less as a result of inter-breeding, for I do not think
that their being in-and-in bred to the extent supposed
by “Culley and others” is at all established by evidence.
It appears to me to be a mere assumption, and one
not in itself particularly probable. This is a subject
upon which, from its great importance, I cannot refuse
to enter ; for the supporters of long-continued in-and-in
breeding have always appealed to the Chillingham herd
as their great example and authority. It should be
remembered, however, that this question in no way
affects the origin or antiquity of the herd, nor even the
preservation of its ancient type, these last being suffi-
ciently proved; it affects only the manner in which the
herd has been kept up: the point at issue being whether
it has always been from the first continuously and
systematically inter-bred, or whether at any time
subjected to a cross. It is by no means to be denied
that these cattle have been often, and perhaps for a long
time together, and especially of late years, bred closely
inter se alone—that is fully admitted; and the late Lord
Tankerville, Riitimeyer, and Darwin poimt out some
disadvantages which have arisen in consequence, such
as diminished size and a tendency to certain complaints.
But the real question is—I repeat it again—Have they

9)

210 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

never received any cross? ‘The fact that the recent
extinction within a few years of two celebrated wild
herds, at Gisburne Park, and at Wollaton, and their
being almost extinct at Lyme, is attributed by those
who knew them best to long-continued inter-breeding,
ought to make us pause before we assume, except upon
conclusive evidence, that the Chilingham herd has not
received for ages any fresh blood.

Culley’s statement that they have not is abundantly
strong :—

“One of the most conclusive arguments,” says he,
“that crossing with different stock is not necessary to
secure size, hardiness, &c., 1s the breed of wild cattle in
Chilingham Park, in the county of Northumberland.
It is well known these cattle have been confined in this
park for several hundred years, without any inter-
mixture, and are, perhaps, the purest breed of cattle of
any in the kingdom. From their situation and un-
controlled state, they must indisputably have bred from
the nearest affinities in every possible degree; yet we
find these cattle exceedingly hardy, healthy, and well
formed, and their size, as well as colour, and many
other particulars and peculiarities, the same as they
were five hundred years since.” .... “From these
instances it appears there can be no danger in breeding
from the nearest affinities, provided they are possessed
in a superior degree of the qualities we wish to acquire.”

A very bold assertion indeed, but a mere assertion,
unaccompanied by any even presumptive evidence, much
less by any proof. “It is,’ says he, “ well known”
that “for several hundred” years “these cattle” have
never received “any intermixture.” One would have
supposed it would have been “well known” to the

3)

CULLEY’S STATEMENT IMPROBABLE. Pali

writer that no proof whatever of this being true for
anything like one hundred years exists: much less for
several hundred. And then he asserts as roundly that
these cattle are in size, and in every excellent quality,
“the same as they were five hundred years since ”—
which he could not in any way know, and which we
have every reason to believe is not the case; for Riiti-
meyer and Darwin have pointed out what wonderful
- changes they have undergone, and there is no cause for
thinking that the last five hundred years have been
altogether exempt from their share in producing these
alterations.

If men are asked to believe such almost miraculous
statements as these, some evidence, strongly presumptive
at least, of their credibility should be given. The ozws
probandi rests upon the assertor. Nothing of the kind
has been attempted, because nothing of the kind was
possible; and the conclusions built upon such assertions
are altogether worthless.

Nothing can be known with any certainty as to how
the Chillingham cattle have been bred for several hun-
dred years, nor whether they have ever been crossed or
not. Various collateral circumstances would lead to a
presumption, more or less strong, that at certain times
they may have received fresh blood. One reason for
thinking so is, that previously to the time of Bakewell,
whose views had little influence till after the middle of
the last century, the idea of in-and-in breeding con-
tinuously was totally alien to the minds of all practical
men. Culley has himself confirmed this very fully :-—

“The great obstacle to the improvement of domestic
animals seems to have arisen from a common prevailing
idea amongst breeders, that no bull should be used in

0 2

212 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

the same herd more than three years, and no tup more
than two; because (say they) if used longer, the breed
will be too near akin, and the produce will be fender,
diminutive, and liable to disorders.” :

Such were the ideas which prevailed universally
before the time of Bakewell; and it is scarcely to be
supposed that noblemen and gentlemen, any more than
farmers and breeders, would disbelieve opinions which
were then universally accepted as true. ‘That they did
not is shown by the circumstance that they constantly
infused new blood into their herds of deer; and this
was much less necessary, inasmuch as they were far more
numerous. ‘Take, for instance, Chillngham, with its
average of, perhaps, 50 head of wild cattle and 400 of
fallow deer, during the last hundred years. It seems
obvious that the habit of breeding from close rela-
tionships and affinities would be eight times as great
in the cattle as im the deer, and that if the cattle
only required a cross at the end of a hundred years,
the deer would not require one, supposing the same
tule to hold good with both, till the end of eight
hundred years. It is certainly not probable that men
who thought their deer required a change of blood
would think otherwise—when that, too, was the received
opinion—with regard to their cattle, which were so
much more closely inter-bred. ‘There seems no reason to
suppose that the owners of the wild herds would act
differently from what, in their day, every one else
did.

They had, moreover, every facility for taking an occa-
sional cross. Three hundred years since, and still more
if we go farther back, the whole of the North was studded
with herds of these wild cattle. Numbers of them were

MANY CROSSES AVAILABLE. 213

within easy reach of Chillmgham: this is certainly true
of the herds kept at Hamilton, Drumlanrig, Naworth,
Bishop Auckland, Barnard Castle, and possibly of a dozen
others of which all memory is lost, not to mention those
further distant. How easy it must have been in those
days to obtain an appropriate cross is obvious. Again
some of these herds were in existence till a comparatively
recent period, so that a good deal later there could not
have been much difficulty. At the beginning of the last
century the T'ankerville family were intimate and indeed
connected with the family of Aislabie of Studley Royal;
near Ripon, whose celebrated white herd was destined,
later in the century, to become the great source of reno-
vation and improvement in the old 'Teeswaters. It was
derived from unknown sources, but almost certainly not
from the general cattle of the adjoining country; it is
much more likely that it originated from the cattle of
the monks of Fountains Abbey, close by.

Had these sources altogether failed—which till a late
period they did not—there were other facile means of
obtaining a cross. The system formerly adopted was far
less exclusive than at present, and the cows of the
neighbours were freely admitted to breed to the wild
bulls. This we know from history was the case in other
parks besides that at Chillingham; and that it was so
there we have the sufficient evidence of Bewick. On
his authority, and on that of others also, we know that
the prepotency of the wild sire stamped indelibly his
own lineaments, colour, and points upon his offspring
from these less high-bred mothers. I am aware that
some of the guardians of the present Chillingham herd
consider its wildness so great, that to bring about such
a connexion nowadays would be impossible; but the

214 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

contrary is indicated by the habits of the yet wilder,
although feral, cattle of the Falkland Islands and
of the northern island of New Zealand. There many
of. the bulls, tempted by domestic cows, desert their
own herds to follow them, and are lassoed or shot
down in consequence. Superior as these wild Chilling-
ham cattle were to the ordinary domestic breed, the
whole neighbourhood must have abounded with their
half-bred descendants, strong resemblances of themselves.
Here was, indeed, a grand opportunity for a cross, with
little chance of losing the original type if the selection
were made carefully—for a half or three-quarters bred
wild bull, with abundance of wild character, might have
been easily procured ; and I cannot divest myself of the
idea that “ William Kadyll’s white calfe,’ purchased
Dee. 5th, 1689, by William Taylor, Steward of Chilling-
ham, was obtained for this purpose. The price, ten
shillings, must have been an extremely high one for the
time ; for Symson, in his “ Large Account of Galloway,”
quoted by Youatt, and published in 1682, only seven
years previously, speaking of the farmers selling their
calves, says :—‘“ They think it very ill husbandry to sell
that for a shilling which in time would yeeld pounds.”
The strong probability is that this “d7te calfe,” pur-
chased so dearly, was the daughter of one of the wild
bulls to which tame cows were in those days put, and
that it is identical with the solitary “ guy” (heifer)
mentioned as being “in the Parke, with my Lorde’s 16
white wilde beasts,” in May, 1692. It would then be
about two and a half years old. ‘Three months later, in
August of the same year, at just the age one might
have. supposed, “ Y° guy had a calfe,’ undoubtedly by
one of the wild bulls with which she had run; and she

PROBABILITY OF A CROSS. 215

was then removed, apparently for the greater safety of
the calf, to a separate part of the park. ‘This well-
authenticated circumstance seems to indicate a systematic
plan for obtaining a cross from a domestic cow (which
may even herself have had some of the wild blood), but
in a modified form—one or two crosses of the wild bulls
being superimposed first. It is exactly the mode which
many most skilful breeders have adopted when they
wished to gain fresh blood without sacrificing the ori-
ginal type and character; they have infused it into
their herds, having previously diluted it.

Such proceedings may have been at times, when the
necessity for them was felt, not unusual. At any rate,
the only safe conclusion at which we can arrive 1s this:
that while there is no proof that the Chillingham cattle
have been closely inter-bred without any admixture for
several hundred years, nor, on the other hand, that they
have not been so in-and-in bred, yet all the presumptive
evidence—and that very strong—leads to the supposi-
tion that they have at least occasionally been crossed.
Nor can I at all see of what disadvantage to them the
small amount of crossing they have possibly received
could be. Proper selection being subsequently used—
and we know selection has been continuous—it
would in no way affect type, form, or colour, especially
since the wild blood is proved to be so much more
potent in its influence than the tame. LEHven if this
were not the case, and no selection had been used,
the effect of the cross would in a few generations be
very small, provided it were not soon again repeated.
The stronger blood of the majority would eventually
neutralise the weaker blood of the one and of his
descendants, who would almost necessarily be in a great

216 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. —

minority. What Sir Charles Lyell says with reference
to man is wholly or nearly wholly true of cattle also:
“Tt is an acknowledged fact that the colour and features
of the negro or European are entirely lost in the fourth
generation, provided that no fresh infusion of one or
other of the two races takes place.” The new blood is
bred out.

On the other hand, the advantages of an occasional
cross in a closely inter-bred herd cannot be doubted.
The old worn-out blood is renewed and re-invigorated.
I am indeed the last who would wish to lessen the im-
portance of Bakewell’s grand discoveries, and I am well
aware that to produce and retain uniformity of type,
character, and colour in cattle, you must have consan-
guinity. But this, like every other hobby, may be
ridden too hard; which is indeed the case when men
maintain, as did Culley, that a herd of perhaps fifty may
go on, without injury, breeding zx/er se alone for several
hundred years. Had he lived till the present time, he
would have found that within fifty or sixty years after
Bakewell’s death it had been abundantly proved that in
the case of Bakewell’s own Improved Long-horns and
New Leicesters the principle of breeding in-and-in from
one herd or flock only without admixture had proved a
most signal failure, and caused those breeders, who
followed Bakewell to the extreme extent which Culley
advocated, to get their stock, as his friends, the old
farmers, said they would, “ tender, diminutive, and lable
to disorders.”

On the whole, I think we may come to the
conclusion that, so far as presumptive evidence goes, this
grand herd of wild cattle by no means contradicts, but
rather confirms, the principle which my late lamented

SUMMARY OF THE CASE. 217

friend, Mr. Carr, allowed me to put forward in his valu-
able work on the ‘“‘ Booth Herds:” namely, that “the wa
media, and therefore the via salutis, would seem to lie in
the adoption of two apparently opposite principles—in-
and-in breeding and fresh blood.’ Nor do I think that
there is anything in the history of these cattle, properly
read, to invalidate the conclusion to which Mr. Darwin
comes, even after having read their history as so un-
fairly stated by Culley, that—‘ The existence of a great
law of nature is, if not proved, at least rendered in the
highest degree probable: namely, that the crossing of
animals and plants which are not closely related to each
other is highly beneficial or even necessary, and that
inter-breeding prolonged during many generations is
highly injurious.” *

* Since the foregoing account was written two pure-bred white Short-horn
heifers have been mated with one of the Chillingham Wild Bulls. Both
were very highly-bred animals, with recorded pedigrees on each side for
upwards of acentury. In June, 1877, they each produced white calves,
one a bull-calf and the other a cow-calf. At six months old these calves
inherited the conformation and colour of the wild animal—the bull in
almost every degree ; the ears were red-tipped, but the eyelids were black,
and the nose not entirely black, but mottled. There was much loose-hanging
skin from the throat to the dew-lap, and he appeared to be not quite so good
behind the shoulders as the wild cattle. On entering the box the calf ran
up and down, as if to escape, and finding that impossible, he gradually set
himself in the corner, as if ready to charge on too close an approach. The
cow-calf partook more of the Short-horn character, and was a shapely,
good ealf, fuller of flesh than the bull; and although it set itself in
somewhat the same manner as the bull-calf, yet it was certainly not nearly
so wild. Its ears were tipped with red, and the lower eyelid was black,
the upper one being white. It differed also in having a clear nose, like —
the Short-horn.—Hp.

CHAPTER XI.

The Chartley Herd—Early Notices of these Cattle as ‘‘ Wild Beasts ”»—Black
Calves considered a fatal Omen—My own first Visit—Grand and Massive
Character of the Cattle—The Herd ‘‘ Long-horns”—My Second Visit—
Peculiar Characteristics of these Cattle—They resemble those in Somerford
Park—Not so wild as the Chillmgham Cattle—Black Calves—Attempts to
cross the Herd—White Cattle in the Neighbourhcod—Mr. Chandos-Pole-
Gell’s Description—Mr. Thornton’s.

Tue Cuarttey Herp is the only other herd of wild
cattle in England,* besides the Chillingham, which
still remains in its pristine state, and it has on that
account, and for the sake of its own merits, the greatest
claim to our notice. Chartley Castle, to whose lords it
has belonged for more than 600 years, is situated in the
central part of the county of Stafford, but somewhat
nearer to its eastern than its western side. ‘To the east
and south-east, very few miles distant, are the Royal
domains of Cannock Chase and Needwood Forest, which
last must have formerly extended nearly or quite up to
it; while at a still shorter distance, towards the north-
east, begin to rise the hills which, running up into
Derbyshire, form the southern point of that central
backbone of mountains which have been appropriately
called the ‘“ British Apennines.” A better country in
olden days for wild sport cannot be conceived. After
the Conquest, Chartley belonged to the great Norman

* The Hamilton, or Cadzow, herd still exists in Scotland, and will be
considered in its proper place.

THH PARK AT CHARTLEY. 219

baron, Ferrers of Chartley, in the hands of whose
descendants it has continued ever since; for Sir Walter
Devereux, K.G., eventually married the heiress, and
was summoned to Parliament in 1461 as Baron Ferrers
of Chartley in her right. He died at Bosworth Field;
and his descendant, Sir Robert Devereux, second Karl of
Hssex, the great favourite of Queen Elizabeth, had
two daughters, the younger of whom married Sir
Robert Shirley, of Staunton Harold; and her brother
Robert, third earl, the celebrated Parliamentary general,
having died without issue, the Shirleys, created Harls
Ferrers, who sprang from that marriage, have since
inherited the place.

The ancient castle, built during the feudal period
upon a low hill for the purpose of defence, is a con-
spicuous and very picturesque ruin, and the Manor
Place near, where the Devereux lived and received
their sovereign, was destroyed by fire soon after the
civil wars of the seventeenth century: the pretty
modern residence, in imitation of the ancient style, being
erected in its place. But “the mighty large park,”
which lies at the distance of a mile and a half north-
wards from the house and castle, remained in pretty
much the same state during all this period, except
that it is more destitute of wood; and it retains its wild
cattle still. Nor has any alteration been made in its
original extent of between 900 and 1,000 acres of land,
the whole of which is quite in a state of nature.
Erdeswick observes: “ The park is very large, and hath
therein red-deer, fallow-deer, wild beasts, and swine.”
By “wild beasts” the wild cattle are meant; and it is a
name strongly confirmatory of their traditional origin,
namely, that they formerly roamed at large in the royal

220 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Forest of Needwood, and were driven into this park
during the reign of Henry III. “ About this time”
(32nd and 33rd of Henry III., that is, a.p. 1248—1249,
says Mosley) “some of the “all cattle of the country
which had hitherto roamed at large in the Forest of
Needwood were driven into the park at this place, where
their breed is still preserved.”

We see, then, that this park contained all the wild
animals of importance which had formerly occupied
Needwood, and that its cattle retained a name having
especial reference to their nature and origin—wi/d
beasts. 'The family accounts show that they were so
called near 220 years since, and, though they have lost
much of their ancient ferocity, they are so called in the
neighbourhood at the present time. ‘The following are
extracts from the “ Account Book of the Steward of the
Manor of Chartley: Preses, Com: Ferrers,” with which
I have been kindly supplied by Mr. Shirley, of Etting-
ton Park :—

Les ad.

“©1658 —P* a moytie of the charge of mowings,

makings, and ieee of hay for
y° wild beasts Sin siiely pee lagen

“1683—Feb. P* the Cooper Re a il for
y° wild swine shee” i soe EEO OTL RO

The last item seems to show very clearly that the
wild boar was not extinct in England so early as has
been supposed: namely, previously to Charles I.’s
abortive attempt to re-introduce its race into the
New Forest.

The number of the wild cattle is said to have not
generally exceeded thirty ; “yet,” says Mr. Shirley, “in
April, 1851, there were forty-eight, and in November, |

SUPERSTITION ABOUT BLACK CALVES. 221

18783, vhee were eNen ts -seven; their colour white, with
black ears.’

A sin paler and ancient superstition hovers round them.
At intervals some cow gives birth to a black calf, and this
is said by the common people, and even by others, to be in-
dicative of some impending calamity; or as some say, “ to
be a sure omen of death within the year to a member of
the lord’s family.” I give the statement as I have
received it from a member of the family; but I must
add that being, nearly forty years since, in the neigh-
bourhood of Lord Ferrers’ other place, Staunton Harold,
when several members of the Ferrers family had died
near together, the unusual number of black calves that
had been lately born at Chartley was a frequent subject
of conversation. But omen or not, one thing it seems
to show: a certain tendency to an unusual quantity
of black. Darwin, quoting from Low, says respecting
these cattle :—‘‘A singular superstition prevails in
the vicinity that when a black calf is born some
calamity impends over the noble house of Ferrers. ALI
the black calves are destroyed.” If indeed they are
supposed to be such indications of evil, it is probable
they would be.

Such is the historical and traditional account of
Chartley and its cattle. What follows is the result of
my own observations and inquiries on the spot. Twice
I have visited the park, and very carefully inspected the
cattle. The first time I approached it from the north,
on July 24th, 1874, with Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell, and
Mr. Philips, of Heybridge, both well-known Short-horn
breeders. We passed through a rough, hilly, broken
country, of principally second-rate pasture land, cold and
scantily inhabited at present, and which in ancient days

222 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

must have been very wild indeed. The park itself, a
sort of table-land much elevated, is broken into small
hills and valleys; it is wholly in a natural state, and
numerous springs rise out of marshy, boggy-looking
spots. It is very wild and open, with but little timber;
the soil is partly cold clay, partly, and indeed a good
deal of it, a black peaty loam; the herbage is scanty and
inferior ; and the whole is so covered with fern, heather,
and other wild plants, that it gives the idea of a very
extensive mountain common. It is very slippery to ride
across after rain. No question, it has originally been
part of the ancient forest. Needwood, close at hand,
was celebrated for its oaks and hollies; so also was the
Park of Lyme, cut out of the Forest of Macclesfield ;
and so originally must have been the park at Chartley
also; and it would, I think, add much to the effect of
the park itself and of its cattle, and to their comfort
also, if the ancient woods of which it has been denuded
could be in part restored.

It did seem wonderful to me that, large and fine as
the Chartley cattle undoubtedly are, they should be
able to maintain their size on a pasture comparatively
sterile, and where even in winter they are only supplied
with hay of a very coarse and poor description, of
which fact we had ocular proof on my second visit. It
speaks volumes in favour of the great size of. the race
from which they sprang. ‘They were, when I first saw
them, twenty-five in number. There were ten breeding
cows, four bulls, two of these being adults, six steers,
and five heifers of various ages. In that year, 1874, they
had been somewhat unfortunate. Some calves, one cow,
which calved earlher than they usually do—namely, at
eighteen months old—and the finest old bull—as

STATH OF THE HERD. 223

Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell, who had seen them previously
assured me—had died since the previous autumn, when
they numbered twenty-seven. Iam able to give an illus-
tration of the above-named bull’s head, from an original
drawing by Mr. Williams. Besides the wild cattle,
there are kept in the park seventy head of red deer and
about two hundred and fifty fallow deer. The only other

HEAD OF OLD BULL BELONGING TO THE CHARTLEY HERD.

animals grazed there are a few horses, and occasionally
a small and insignificant number of sheep.

We arrived at the keeper’s lodge, close to the park
gate, at the Chartley end of the park. King, the
keeper, an intelligent man, who had then been there
five years, showed us every attention, and introduced to
me a labourer, George Whitton, who had worked in the
park for thirty years, who was a man of great observa-
tion, and from whom I got much information. We
entered the park at its south-eastern corner, just
opposite the keeper’s lodge. A cart-track—it could

224 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

scarcely be called a road—skirted the boundary of the
park, having a yard and a paddock or two on the left
hand—the park itself being on our right and in front
of us—while a large piece of water in a valley slightly
beneath us, to which the cattle were coming down to
drink, was a few hundred yards distant to the right.
The herd was behind a knoll immediately in front. Just
then, alone, came from the other cattle a mighty bull to
drink. He passed down the valley within seventy or
eighty yards of us, with a stately, majestic walk, his
action being very grand. He took of us not the
slightest notice; but he bellowed loudly as he went,
for he had been confined in one of the paddocks near,
and had that day broken out and attacked his rival.
He was now, the keeper told us, retreating from the
fight discomfited, and would probably sulk apart from
the herd for two or three days, and then renew the
battle. How vividly was I reminded of Virgil’s exact
and beautiful description of a similar incident in his
Third Georgie.

We went on towards the knoll, and two cows ap-
peared in advance of the rest of the herd. They saw
us, and crossed to the right, in the direction of a low
hill some few hundred yards distant; but we had a
good view of them as they did so at, perhaps, eighty
or a hundred yards distance; the rest of the herd, which
were further off, followed them. We drew quietly after
them, and had a splendid view of the herd grouped ez
masse onthe summit of the hill, for they allowed us to
get very near them; and a grand sight it was. Just,
however, at that moment the thunder-storm, which had
long been threatening, broke upon us, and we were
soon obliged unwillingly to retire.

CHARACTER OF THE CATTLE. 995

The style and carriage of these cattle is striking
and majestic, and they unite with this considerable size,
while their magnificent horns add much to their gran-
deur, and recall at once to the memory the accounts of
the ancient Bos urus. I particularly observed how deep
and massive were the fore quarters of the bull as he
passed near us. His shoulders were beautifully formed;
he had a wonderful amount of /eather beneath his chin;
nor could “Comet,” or the celebrated ‘“‘ Duke of Northum-
berland,” have had a much finer dewlap. As in all wild
animals, the hind quarters were comparatively lighter
than the fore; but they were well shaped, good, and
long, and both the back and belly-line were straight.

We saw also in a paddock, at a distance of scarcely
twenty yards, a young bull two years old, and a lovely
little heifer-calf of about two months, the orphan off-
spring of the eighteen-months-old heifer which had
died prematurely ; it was nursed by an ordinary cow.
The snowy whiteness of its colour was beautifully
relieved by its jet-black eyes, ears, and muzzle; its
hairy coat a thousand-guinea “Duchess” might have
envied; and as it stared at us, the picture of wild grace
and beauty, I longed much for a Landseer to reproduce
its likeness. What struck me most forcibly on this my
first visit, though I had been prepared for it’ by Mr.
Chandos-Pole-Gell, was that the Chartley cattle, like
the original domestic breed of the part of the country
they inhabit, are essentially Lonc-norns. ‘To such an
extent is this the case that this gentleman, who is well
acquainted with the old Long-horn cattle, remarked to
me that he thought a cross with the Chartley would
probably largely contribute to the restoration of that
breed. But of this, and other particulars I observed

P

226 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

and ascertained, more hereafter, under the head of my
second visit, to which I now proceed.

My first visit had been so much cut short by the
weather that I determined to see the Chartley herd
again, and this time in winter, when the cattle, being
fed with hay in paddocks, can be approached more
easily. I was accompanied by Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell
and Mr. John Thornton to Stafford over-night, and we
drove to the park, where we met other friends the next
morning, December Ist, 1874—on this occasion ap-
proaching it from the south. To refresh our minds
with the character of the improved Long-horn, and
thus be better able to compare them with the Chartley
cattle, we attended the day before, at Birmingham,
a sale by Mr. Lythall of fourteen Long-horn heifers,
the remains of the herd of the Chapmans of Upton,
which, commencing its notoriety by the hire of Bake-.
well’s celebrated bull “'Twopenny,”’ had since been
bred, with great attention to purity, for 118 years.
These heifers were extremely good and of large size
for their age, which was from two years and six to two
years and ten months. The next morning we drove
first to Chartley Hall, and were very kindly received
by Captain Walsh, who, with his wife, the Dowager
Countess, and mother of the present Earl, was then
residing there. He gave me much valuable informa-
tion, and showed me several—a dozen, perhaps—stuffed
heads of bulls, cows, and steers. None of these did
justice to the living animal, for all had that pecuhar
shrunken, mummified look which I had before observed
in the stuffed heads at Chillingham and in numerous
other instances. This is much more apparent in pre-
served specimens of the genus Bos than in most other

SHCOND VISIT TO THE HERD. 227

animals, such as deer and most wild beasts, which have
nothing like so much loose pendant skin about the head
and neck. Still, these heads were especially valuable on
account of their general character, their colour, and,
above all, their horns.

Driving a mile and a half farther, to the keeper’s
lodge at the corner of the park, we found that King
had made every preparation for us. In the paddock a
short distance within the park, where I had before seen
the two-year-old bull and the young calf, was one of the
old bulls, lately castrated on account of his extreme
pugnacity interfering (as was believed) with the fertility
of the herd ; he was the master bull, but the cows had
not bred to him satisfactorily. In the paddock with
him were, one cow, two or three yearling heifers, and a
few calves, from six to nine months old, all weaned, and
apparently put there for the purpose of weaning them
from their dams; among these was the one I admired
in July. A yard, one side of which was open_to this
paddock, was connected therewith, and in it at the time
the cattle were. A door in one of the sheds unlocked
by the keeper admitted us to the sight of them not
many yards from us. The bull was within ten yards
of us, and at first stood quite still, staring at us while
we looked at him. He soon, however, drew off to the
paddock, and the others followed him. There, through
the palings, we had a very good view of these two
adults and of the juniors of the herd.

Nearly half a mile’s walk took us across the low
hill, where we had seen the herd in July, to a wild and
low valley, in which is a large shedded yard where the
deer are fed, and open to it a paddock of about an acre.
Here the seniors of the herd were enclosed, and we

Pp 2

228 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

stood round the outer paled fence of the paddock while
the keepers quietly drove them tolerably near to us.
They stood grouped together for perhaps half an hour,
within thirty or forty yards of us, moving about now
and then among themselves. There was no wildness
or impatience—a little timidity, certainly, which pre-
vented their being driven yet nearer to us; but fortified
as they were by the presence of their fellows and of
the keepers who fed them, they took little notice of us.
I feel convinced it would have been otherwise had the
keepers not been there, and we had approached this
their sanctuary alone. There were ten cows, two bulls,
and six or seven steers of various ages, all, save and
except the differences of sex, alike as peas. Their uni-
formity of type and colour was surprising, and no
experienced person could doubt what that type was.
They were what an agricultural writer would call
Long-horns, and, 1f of the colour that attaches to that
breed, might have been sold as such: the similarity
being not only in the horns, but also in form, size, and
general character. In this we were all agreed; and of
the six visitors who then stood round, all of us were
well acquainted with the old Long-horns, most of us
from childhood, and four of us had seen the heifers of
that breed sold the day before. The horns, though
very considerable in length, did not attain that extreme
size which some of the “ Improved Long-horns” pre-
sented, nor did they show the same eccentricity of
growth; on the contrary, allowing for the differences
of sex, and some very slight individual variations, the
horns were singularly uniform. But then we know on
good authority that these peculiarities, in their extreme
development, were not characteristics of the original

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CHARTLEY CATTLE. (From Original Sketches by Mr. A. H. WILuiaMs.

THE CHARTLEY CATTLE—LONG-HORNS. 231

Long-horns, but changes of character which followed
upon their increased cultivation and improvement.* I
think, notwithstanding some opposing circumstances,
which I shall consider further on, we must consider
the Chartley cattle the aboriginal representative type
from which the old Long-horns, or Cravens, as they
were otherwise called, were primarily derived. Nor
need the latter be ashamed of it; for while we stood
by the palings of the paddock, surveying that splendid
group, Mr. Thornton, delighted beyond measure, ex-
claimed that here were, in a state of nature, most, if
not all, of the points which for nearly a hundred years
we had been trying to produce in the Short-horn.
Straightness of the back and belly-lines was a most
strongly marked feature of these cattle; depth also of
the body, and shortness of the leg. As im all wild
animals, the hind quarter was lighter than the fore ;
but it was of considerable length, and the flesh was
carried well downwards towards the hock. The tail
was set on straight with the back in a very blood-like
manner, but the quarter itself sloped a little from the
hips backwards, so that the tail was slightly raised
above the rumps. The lom and chine had not that
breadth and thickness which are often, though not
always, seen in the best of our improved modern cattle ;
but neither were these possessed by the improved Long-
horn heifers—splendid specimens of the breed—which I
examined carefully the day before. But in neatness
of shoulders, plates, and crops the Chartley cattle lost
nothing by comparison with others, and in depth and
breadth of breast few in mere store condition, as they
were, could equal them. The development of what is
* Youatt’s “ Cattle,” chap. vi, p. 188.

232 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

technically called /eather in the males—both in the
bulls, with their pendent chins and dewlaps, and in the
steers, with thew grand briskets—was remarkable, and
even the pretty calves, with their excellent necks and
double chins, were in this respect very striking.

The head was very elegant in the cow, masculine in
the bull, kind (to use an agricultural term) in the steer ;
in none coarse. It was much set off by the nearly
straight, yet gracefully curved, horns, which were
strongly indicative of blood and breeding. These were
of no great circumference in proportion to their con-
siderable length ; in most instances there was little or
no black tip, but, as in the Improved Long-horns, a
hght brown one; and in those cases where the tips
were black, they were generally not so black as in most
other of the white herds, and can only be said to have
been shghtly tipped with that colour. The horns grow out
sideways—horizontally—somewhat downwards at first
for perhaps two-thirds of their length, and then a little
up, in the form of an ogee. This was very apparent in
the two-year-old bull I saw on my first visit; his horns
had not then begun to turn up, but grew out very
straight sideways and somewhat downwards, giving
him a peculiar and not agreeable appearance. The eye
was lively, yet mild and benignant, and by no means
indicative of ferocity : indeed, the whole expression of
the face gave you the idea of placidity and good
nature. ‘This was increased by what appeared to me
to be a peculiarity of their own. The lower part of
the face was sleek and free from long hair, but on the
top of the poll, reaching equally in all directions, and
in front coming down nearly to the eyes, was a large,
round, raised, spreading mass of long white hair.

MINOR CHARACTERISTICS. 233

Though of a different colour, it reminded me most
strongly of the long, unkempt scratch wig which I had
seen many elderly men of the middle class wear m my
younger days. It was common to both males and
females, and gave their faces a singularly demure, owl-
like look; it seemed as characteristically hereditary of
this breed as is the lock of wool on the forehead of
the Cotswold sheep. I observed it afterwards in the
Somerford Park white cattle, which in some other
respects much resemble these.

Their hair was generally good and abundant; the bulls
had a larger quantity on the neck than the others, and
it was more curly there than on other parts of the body,
but it could not be called, as in the Chillingham bulls,
amane. All had black muzzles and black hoofs, and all
had—some more, some less—a tendency to black upon
the front part of the fetlock of all four legs, close to the
hoof, but much more upon the fore-legs than the hind.
In some of them there was a considerable quantity of
black upon that part of the fore-legs; in others a small
blotch or two; inallsome. In most of them this was
not at all, or scarcely at all, perceptible on the hind-
legs ; but King, the keeper, assured me that the tendency
to it existed in all, and upon all four legs. One or two
were a little blotched with black above the muzzle, in
that respect also resembling the Somerford Park cattle.
Some of them, I could easily see, had small black spots
upon them, principally on the neck; one cow especially
had a good many, visible at a considerable distance, not
only on the neck, but on the back and the body also ;
and King told me they all had them, though in the case
of the greater number they were only seen when the
cattle were changing their coat. ‘These spots were very

234 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

apparent on the stuffed head of a cow at the Hall; in
that case, however, the black hairs were so very nume-
rous—some of them in small bunches, some of them
single, others nearly so—that they gave the head quite a
grizzled appearance, which must have been very like the
“einder-grey”’ of some of the darker cattle of the
Russian Steppes, or the “flea-bitten grey” of some of
the wild cattle in our northern counties. The cow I
saw in the herd approximated to the same character,
and so did several of those I saw at Somerford.

Black ears are preferred, and are an object of selec-
tion ; yet the colour of the ear varies a good deal in
different individuals, being, however, in all more or less
black. In some I observed the whole ear black, inside
and outside; in others the inside was black, and the
outside merely tipped with that colour. Some of the
calves and young heifers had ears apparently altogether
white, both inside and out: but this is not really the
case ; there are always within the ear some black hairs.
It is somewhat singular that these white-eared ones—two
or three, perhaps—are all the descendants of one cow,
which was pointed out to us. She was one of the finest
and largest cows, and her own ears were lighter in
colour than those of most of the others, but not as light
as those of the calves; hers were white, tipped with
black. I also observed that one of these white-eared
calves had principally, if not entirely, white eye-lashes,
differing in that respect also from the rest of the herd.
In other respects these white-eared calves resembled
their relatives. The cows had black teats, but there
does not seem to be a disposition in any of them to
black upon the tail.

It struck me that, when compared with most other

THE CATTLE SEMI-WILD. 235

breeds of cattle, the cows were small relatively to the
bulls and steers—in this respect resembling the Here-
fords, which perhaps are indebted for some of their
blood to this strain of wild cattle.

In winter they come up in bad weather, and are fed
with coarse, rushy hay, which we saw, and with this hay
alone. Formerly all were fed together in one paddock ;
but King, the present keeper, finding that the younger
ones suffered from the older ones getting most of the
hay, has adopted a different system, and now the older
and the younger are each fed by themselves in separate
paddocks, and the younger ones have grown and thriven
much better since. This plan, and also the enforced
separation of the calves from their mothers after a
certain age, appear to me likely to increase the fertility
of the herd, but perhaps to diminish its wildness.
Possibly, the latter result is even now appreciable.

The Chartley wild cattle are not so wild as those at
Chillmgham. This is probably owing to the circum-
stance that the park is bounded on one side by a public
road, from which it is only separated by a paled fence,
which is not the case at Chillingham, so that they are at
Chartley much more habituated to the sight of man.
My impression is that they are somewhat wilder than
fallow-deer in an ordinary deer-park. It is possible to
get pretty near them; but they have a great amount of
timidity, and soon sheer off if approached too closely.
A gentleman who lived in the neighbourhood, and who
has frequently ridden through the park, told me that
when doing so he has never seen them, so much are
they inclined to conceal themselves. When we got
near them on my first visit, 1b was a very hot, dry,
sultry afternoon, and we intercepted them as they were

236 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

coming down to water. Mr. Philips and the keeper
tried to get round them in order to drive them nearer to
Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell and myself; but they would not
stand this, and quickly bolted sideways. In winter, when
fed in the paddock, no keeper can even handle them.

But though generally timorous and placid, there are
‘times when it is perilous te-approach them. King says
that the time when they are most dangerous is in
October.

Captain Walsh told me that they were “ hardly
ever’ dangerous when together in masses, and that if
they approached towards you it was usually sufficient to
knock your stick upon the ground, and they will turn
tail. But he added that there was sometimes much
risk in coming across one by itself. Of course this risk
would be increased if you met a cow going to her
concealed calf; and I strongly suspect that the enraged
bull I saw on my first visit would have quickly re-
venged his defeat by his rival on any one who had
been so unfortunate as to cross his path.

The Chartley cows breed with great regularity, as
regularly as ordinary cows, and suckle their calves well ;
they conceal them for the first three or four days. They
calve at all seasons of the year, and have had calves “in
every month of the year;” but evidently the spring is
the more usual time—for when I was there on the Ist
of December all the eleven cows were believed to be in
calf. ‘There is no separation beyond what is mentioned
above; the young heifers therefore run with the herd,
and generally calve at from two to two years and a half
old, which may partly account for the smaller size of
the cows, and no doubt this must partially affect the
size of the males also. An unusual case, alluded to

WHIGHT OF CHARTLHY CATTLE. 237

above, recently occurred of a heifer calving when only
eighteen months old. Black calves are not at all un-
common; three had been born during the two years
preceding my visit in July, 1874; and I have not heard
that the Ferrers family suffered in any way in con-
sequence, so we may hope that the charm is broken. It
is much to be desired, in the interest of natural his-
tory, that the black female calves should be preserved
separate from the rest of the herd, and mated with a
white bull; this might throw light on more than one
important question. King told me that when this
variation of colour occurs the calves are always pure
black, ““with not a white hair on them,” never parti-
coloured; and this was quite confirmed by the old
labourer, Whitton, who had been there so long.

The steers are castrated when quite young, as the
horn is thereby much improved. None have been killed
since King came, as the herd was then reduced to
fifteen, and the object of Lord Ferrers is to increase its
number. The old labourer says that neither cows nor
bulls have ever been killed during the last thirty years,
but oxen frequently. Their weight, when fed on hay
only out in the park, where they get into very fair
condition, was from seven to eight score a quarter (that
is, taking the medium, 43 stone of 14]b., or 75 of
8 lb.)—a very great weight, when the sterile nature of
their pasture is considered. He remembers one which
was brought up and fed in an enclosure on hay and oil-
cake. ‘This steer was nine years old, and weighed,
when slaughtered, ten score a quarter (that is, 57 stone
of 14]b., or 100 of 8lb.). These steers were noble
animals; and I and others thought that if they could be
tied up by the neck, and fed like ordinary bullocks till

238 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

moderately ripe, they would make at least 70 stones of
14 lb. Whitton told me that he had frequently eaten
their beef, which he described as very juicy and good,
but somewhat coarser-grained than common butcher’s |
beef, perhaps owing to their greater age. Captain
Walsh assured me that the beef of the steer just
alluded to was far superior in flavour to any beef he
ever tasted—trich, juicy, and delicious—dark in colour,
and eating short, while the fat was elastic and re-
sembled that. of venison.

I could not make out that any tradition existed that
the Chartley herd had ever been crossed, but efforts
have been made in this direction. Some correspondence
took place in the late lord’s time with Lord Tankerville
for an exchange of bulls, and Whitton remembered
a young bull being selected for this purpose; but
the negotiation proved abortive. A few years since a
young bull was obtained from Lyme Hall, the produce
from a Lyme cow of a bull Lord Ferrers had given to
Mr. Legh. When it came it was not approved, and
was never used, but was immediately made a steer. It
was thought to be coarser and larger in the bone than
the Chartley cattle, to have less black on the nose and
hoofs, and shorter and thicker horns. If a cross had
been at any time required, undoubtedly facilities for it
existed. Whitton remembered well the time when the
tenants and neighbours were permitted to turn their
cows into the park to be served by the wild bulls. This
privilege has been withdrawn, but some results of it
still remain; and both he and the keeper knew well a
cow so bred, and agreed in saying that her owner
considered her the best milker he ever had. I also
observed, as we approached the park from Stafford, in

MR. CHANDOS-POLE-GELL’S VISIT. 239

the fields near, a very unusual number of white cattle,
the result, probably, of the former use of the wild bulls.
Whitton also said that whatever cows were put to
the white bulls, the calves came almost invariably the
colour of their sires: the only instance he remembered
to the contrary being that on one occasion a dark-
coloured cow produced a spotted calf. Thus were
singularly confirmed at Chartley two of the facts
which Bewick relates with regard to Chillingham—
the existence of the custom and the prepotency of
the white sire.

The cattle here have suffered much from the foot-and-
mouth complaint, but they have fortunately escaped the
rinderpest. ‘Their noble owner takes great interest in
them, and even wished to re-introduce the wild swine;
for which purpose he imported a wild boar and sow. The
former unluckily died, and the sow, a genuine specimen
of the Sus scrofa, is still kept; she is said to be as clever
as a terrier at killing rats, rabbits, &c.

I add here Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell’s and Mr.
Thornton’s remarks on the Chartley cattle, thereby
running the risk of some recapitulation. Yet on some
points they have enlarged more than I have done; and
in the present state of these valuable wild cattle, so
small now in number, I should not feel justified in
omitting to give the opinions of two such authorities.
They are singularly confirmatory of my own, though
all these three accounts were written quite independ-
ently of each other. The following observations of
Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell refer to his first visit, prior to
either of mine :—

“Tn the autumn of 1873 I drove to Chartley Park,
to inspect the herd of white cattle in the possession of

240 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Earl Ferrers. About two months before my visit I
had seen those at Chillingham Castle, and was anxious
to compare the two herds, having always understood
that the animals were similar, with one exception:
namely, that the cattle at Chillingham had red ears,
while those at Chartley had black ones. My visit took
place on a dull, murky autumn day, and as I drove
up to the keeper’s lodge I saw the cattle grouped close
against the park palings. Not being aware how near
they would allow us to approach them, I at once stopped
in order to examine them through my opera-glass. My
astonishment was great at finding that, stead of re-
sembling the Chillingham animals, they were of a
different variety, and were really ‘ Long-horns;’ their
general character being the same as the old Long-horn
breed, which were the ordinary stock of Derbyshire and
Staffordshire till about fifty, or perhaps sixty, years ago.
With these I had been acquainted from my boyhood,
as my father kept a herd of them, and many of the farms
in his neighbourhood were stocked with the same de-
scription of cattle, or with crosses from them, locally
termed in those days ‘ Half-horns.’ I had also at one
time kept a few of them myself.

“The colour of the Chartley cattle is, however,
white, the ears being black, and they have black spots
on the legs above the hoofs, and in some of them a few
black spots about the neck. On examination I found
these cattle to be what is technically called very ‘ true
made. They are long and low in form; their backs
level, loins strong but not very wide, hook-bones not
too prominent; the under-line very straight, the
shoulders oblique and well laid back (giving them a
majestic walk), and the ribs fairly well arched. Some

MR. THORNTON’S ACCOUNT. 241

of them were rather rough about the tail-head, but
the quarters were always long. Of course I could not
handle them; but they appear to have plenty of good
hair, and I do not doubt that they have thick, soft
hides, like the ordinary Long-horns with which I am
acquainted. The head has great fulness between the
eyes, which are very taking in their appearance, being
bright, quick, and lively. The horns, which show every
- sign of high breeding, are beautifully curved, and taper
finely to the point, which is sometimes tipped with
black, but not always so. ‘Those animals which have
been made into steers show a much greater development
of horn, as is usually the case; the horns of the bulls
are much thicker than those of the females. The teats
of the cows are black.”

The following is the report of Mr. John Thornton,
the well-known Short-horn auctioneer :—

“We drove from Stafford, on the morning of
December Ist, 1874, through a bleak country, to
Chartley Park. The keeper had drawn the wild cattle
together ; some in a small paddock, where, with several
young calves, was an old bull, recently castrated. The
remainder of the herd was in a kind of enclosed yard
in a hollow in the park, through which a small stream
ran, and in which were built hovels. By these arrange-—
ments we were as close to them as it was possible to
get. The old man who foddered them said he had
never yet been able to touch one, either in the park
or the shed. .

“The peculiarity most striking was the colour: a
clear white body, head, and neck, with much hair; but
the ears, nose, circle round the eyes, and the hoofs were
black, and there were a few black spots on the fetlock

Q

242 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

above the hoof. One cow had ears only partially black,
and the same peculiarity was transmitted to her off-
spring. The udder was white, the teats and the
tongue black; and in the summer they are said to have
a few black spots on the body. The horns of the bulls,
cows, and steers differ materially from each other as
well as from those of the Chillingham wild cattle, those
of the bulls being thick, flat, and broad at the base, and
of a deeper yellow colour, declining outwards with a
sight curl. The cows’ horns are much longer and
thinner, not quite so yellow, and in some cases they are
nearly straight, in others they incline downwards and
then upwards, while those of the steers were larger
than the cows’, growing a little downwards, and rising
slightly towards the tip.

TYPES OF HORNS IN THE CHARTLEY HERD.

“The previous day I saw fourteen of Mr. Chapman’s
pure two-year-old Long-horn heifers sold by Messrs.
Lythall and Clarke at Birmingham. There was some
similarity to the Chartley cattle, excepting the colour;
there were, however, no animals at Chartley with the
horns strongly curved backwards and downwards, as was
the case with some of the brown and brindled Long-
horns. In both kinds the hair and symmetry were
about equal, though in this the Chartley had a little

HIS IMPRESSION OF THE CATTLE. 243

the advantage; the latter were, however, at the same
age, apparently less in size.

“T should call the Chartley cattle, as compared with
Short-horns, of good medium size. Some of the cows
had the appearance of being good milkers. The body
is well formed, on wide-set, short legs, the top and
under lines being nearly parallel; ribs fairly sprung,
and reaching close to the hip-bone; shoulders nicely
laid into the back, with good breast and forequarters ;
forelegs short with large broad arm, but very fine below
the knee; loin good, hips not very prominent; hind
_ quarters long, with tail square behind, at nearly right
angles to the back-bone, but from the hips to the
“touch” slightly drooping. The thighs were rather
light, but the flank good; neck slightly lower than the
body.

“Tn appearance the bulls were totally different from
the cows. They were deeper in body and perhaps
shorter on the leg; but the head was still more
strikingly different. The bull’s head had a very broad
forehead, which was covered with hair (as was the case
also with the cows), but smooth from eyes to nose ; it
was very masculine-looking, like a Highland Scots,
but perhaps a little sulky. The cows’ heads were
long—the bulls’ short and broad, almost triangular. ‘The
chin of the bull was thick, and there was a great deal
of loose skin about the throat, neck, and dewlap. ‘The
different character of the male and female is very
striking.

“In selecting the bulls, only the white colour and
the black ears and nose are regarded, but no attention
is paid to formation. Two or three bulis are kept,
but when they fight too much—as they are apt to do—

Q 2

244. WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

the most wicked and savage one is castrated. Occa-
sionally neighbours’ cows have been allowed to be
turned into the park to the wild bull, and the half-bred |
produce feed and milk well. The wild steers have been
known to come up to ten score a quarter. The meat
is said to eat short, like vension—better than ordinary
beef—and the fat cools like the fat of venison.

“On the whole, it would seem that these were a
breed of Long-horn cattle with almost Short-horn
shapes; and if, as it is said, they have been kept pure
since the park was enclosed—more than six hundred
years ago—we are forced to arrive at the conclusion
that though other breeds of cattle may have been
brought to a state of earlier maturity, little or no im-
provement in conformation and symmetry has been
made in them.”

~CHAPTER XII.

The Lyme Park Herd—The Legh Family—Hansall’s Account of the Herd—My
own Visit, 1875—Details given by Mr. Legh—Attempts to procure a Cross—
Result of the Chartley Cross—Curious Result of the Polled Gisburne Cross—
Habits of the Old Lyme Cattle—Larger than any existing Wild Breed in
this Country—The Burton Constable Herd—Refusal of Information—
Bewick’s Account—Destruction of the Herd by Distemper—Probable Origin
of the Herd.

Tur Lyme Parx Herp of wild cattle is alluded to by
Bewick as one of the ancient herds, but he does not
seem to have known any particulars about it. Lyme
Park, in Cheshire, is about seven miles north of
Macclesfield, and closely abuts upon that wild part of
North Derbyshire which forms the High Peak, sur-
rounded formerly by numerous extensive forests. Itis of
ereat extent, and has belonged since its first enclosure
to a branch of the old Cheshire family of Legh. Sir
Piers Legh, when very young, bore the standard of
Edward the Black Prince at the Battle of Crecy and
took the Count de Tankerville prisoner. For these
services he was rewarded by the prince with a money
grant; but in place of this he received from that
prince’s son, Richard IJ., the grant of Lyme Park,
which was enclosed for the purpose from the Royal
Forest of Macclesfield, of which it formed part. Sir
Piers married the daughter of another Crecy hero, and
had a son—Sir Peter—who eventually fell at Agin-
court; while he himself, devotedly loyal to his unfor-
tunate sovereign, was beheaded at Chester, in 1399, by

246 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Henry IV., then Duke of Lancaster, and had his head
set on one of the highest turrets of that fortified city.
From these heroes the Leghs of Lyme descend; and the
wild cattle have been there, it has always been believed,
ever since they and the park they inhabit were enclosed
together from Macclesfield Forest, nearly five hundred
years ago. The following is the account given of them
by Hansall, in his “ History of Cheshire,” in 1817.

“In Lyme Park, which contains about 1,000
Cheshire acres, is a herd of upwards of twenty wild
cattle, similar to those in Lord Tankerville’s park at
Chillingham—chiefly white, with red ears. They have
been in the park from time immemorial, and tradition
says they are indigenous. In the summer season they
assemble in the high lands, and in the winter they
shelter in the park woods. They were formerly fed
with holly branches, with which trees the park abounded ;
but these being destroyed, hay is now substituted.
Two of the cows are shot annually for beef.”

The park of Lyme was celebrated for the fine flavour
of its venison; and here a curious custom was observed
formerly of collecting the red deer once a year—about
Midsummer, or rather earlier—in a body before the
house, and then swimming them through a pool of
water, with which the exhibition terminated. This
custom of driving deer like ordinary cattle is said to
have been perfected by an old park-keeper—Joseph
Watson, who died in 1753, aged 104, after having filled
that office for sixty-four years. This patriarch is believed
to have been in his 102nd year when he hunted a buck
in a chase of six hours’ duration, and to have driven suc-
cessfully, in the reign of Queen Anne, twelve brace of
stags from Lyme to Windsor Forest. All this, I think,

LYME HALL AND PARK. 247

shows how the wildest animals of the order Ruminantia
may be subjugated by man, and as an example of this
it will be hereafter noticed.

The further account of the herd is derived from my
own inquiries on the spot. Starting from Buxton on
August 10th, 1875, I stopped at Disley station, from
which Lyme Park is distant about two miles. The
whole county is one continuation of the elevated hills
of North Derbyshire—now generally in pasture, but
formerly part of the Peak and Macclesfield Forests. To
this the country round Lyme offers no exception. The
whole way from Disley is a very strong pull up-hill,
and when you arrive there you see, far below, the great
vale of Cheshire and Lancashire, as far as the Rivington
hills, in the distance. I drove through a small park,
where groups of fine large stags—retaining perhaps some
traditional memory of the instruction of Joseph Watson
—stood at no great distance, leisurely and quietly survey-
ing me from beneath oaks, many of which showed, by
their grandeur and their decay, that they were verging
towards the conclusion of a life which had probably lasted
for a thousand years, and most of which must have been
in full vigour when, five hundred years before, they were
imparked from the Forest of Macclesfield together with
the red deer and wild cattle, to which for such long ages
they had afforded shelter. Hncircling the fine mansion,
which is built round an open court-yard and filled with
the most interesting relics of the past, are similar small
parks and paddocks, beautifully wooded; and beyond
these, at the distance of half a mile or more from the
house, you come to the wild and extensive park which
the wild cattle inhabit, called “‘ The Park Moor.” This
is in summer their constant residence. In winter they are

248 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

brought into some of the smaller parks near the house ;
and a herd of about fifty red deer and a certain number
of sheep also graze there during the summer. This “Park
Moor,” which is about eight hundred acres in extent, is
the wildest place that can be imagined—quite unaltered
from the time when it formed part of the forest, except
that it has lost the greater part of the trees and the beau-
tiful hollies with which it was formerly clothed; but its
great extent and still greater inequalities of surface afford
every necessary protection to the wild animals, which may
be within two or three hundred yards of you without
your being at all aware of it. A very deep dell, through
which flows a rivulet, and from which broken ground
and high hills rise on either side, intersects it. It is
covered with furze, and rough tussocky grass, with grass
of finer quality intervening. In many places it is very
boggy, and, in one part at least, swarms with rabbits.

I was unfortunately unable to see the cattle of this
herd, as, after walking a considerable distance—more, I
think, than a mile through the Park Moor—we came to
the edge of the very extensive and deep valley I have
- justmentioned. My guide and I stood on the hill on one
side of this valley ; and it was at last ascertained, with
some difficulty (for the distance was so great that they
were scarcely distinguishable by the naked eye), that
the cattle were far off on the top of the opposite hill.
Want of time and my inability to walk so great a
distance prevented my going to them. I, however,
obtained from Mr. Legh himself, and from James Arden,
who accompanied me—an intelligent man, born close
by, and who has been for more than fifty years in the
service of the family—many particulars relating to the
Lyme cattle.

ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE A CROSS. 249

This very ancient herd had, previously to the time of
the present Mr. Legh, been much neglected ; and since
he took possession of it several unforeseen accidents
have occurred. The principal of these were—the loss
of two cows, and impairment of the fertility of
others by the foot-and-mouth complaint, and the re-
tention at one time of a single bull which proved
infertile. Mr. Legh also attributes—and, no doubt,
justly—its present diminished numbers to long con-
tinued in-and-in breeding from near affinities. ‘This last
cause was rapidly producing the same result at Lyme
which it did at Wollaton and Gisburne; and as the herd
was always small—never consisting for many years of
more than fourteen or fifteen, a portion only of which
were females—it was unable to bear such losses, and has
been reduced in consequence to very narrow limits.

Various efforts were made to meet the evil. An
attempt to procure a bull from Chillingham proved
abortive ; but a cow and bull-calf were obtained from
Gisburne, as will be seen in the account of that herd.
This, as Mr. Legh remarked, was a great mistake; for
the Gisburne cattle, being hornless, were very unsuitable
as a cross, nor does it appear that in other respects this
step proved beneficial. Subsequently, however, Lord
Ferrers very kindly supplied Mr. Legh with a bull,
which I saw in a walled paddock near the house. He
is of the genuine Chartley stamp—a good, thick,
cloggy, short-legged animal, and of the ordinary size of
the Chartley bulls, but not nearly so large, it is said, as
the old Lyme bulls were.

In addition to this,the Lyme herd, when I was there,
consisted of four animals: one bull, three years old, of
Mr. Legh’s own sort; one cow of the same sort; and

950 WILD WHITE UATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

her two daughters. The elder daughter, three years old,
and in calf to the Lyme bull, was by the Chartley bull,
and is unfortunately of that dark colour which the
Chartley herd, more than any other, not unfrequently
produces. She is “a blue-black, with a white stripe
down the back, a large white star on the forehead, and
white rings round the legs.” As no variations of this
kind had ever been known before at Lyme, there 1s now
a strong feeling against the use of the Chartley sire ; yet
Tam myself of opinion that more good than harm will
eventually arise from the cross with that blood. The
old cow’s other daughter was a young calf by the Lyme
bull, and was, like her sire and dam, of the legitimate
colour. Probably all the herd have now in their veins
some of the Gisburne Park blood.

Considering the herd, therefore, just at present as in
a transition state, I proceed to give what account I can
of the Lyme herd as it was prior to the introduction of
the Gisburne blood. Unfortunately, no pictures or
stuffed heads remain; but, as we have only to go back
some fifteen or sixteen years, the characteristics of the
old uncrossed breed are well and generally remembered.

The old Lyme Park cattle were of the genuine ancient
type: pure white, with black muzzle, and black circle
round the eyes, and hoofs. They had also, at least
usually, some black above the hoof on the front of the
fore-leg. The horns were only slightly tipped with
brownish-black, in this respect resembling most the
Chartley cattle ; the ears were generally red, but in some
cases they were tipped with é/ve—the keeper said it
could scarcely be called black. This quite corroborates
what Hansall says: that they were ‘‘chiefly white with
red ears.” The horns were of an intermediate character

RESULT OF A POLLED COROSS. 251

between those of the Chillingham and Chartley breeds ;
larger, not so upright, nor so nearly resembling in their
mode of growth the horns of the Devon or Welsh
breeds as is the case with the Chillinghams, but
smaller, somewhat more upright in their growth, and
less approximating to the horns of the old Long-horns
than is the case with the Chartley cattle. The skeleton
head, with the horns attached, of an old cow of the
uncrossed sort, and the horns of another, with the con-
necting portion of the skull, have been preserved, and
quite confirm the above remarks. But a singular effect
was produced by the cross with the polled Gisburne.
The horns (with part of the skull similarly intervening)
appertaining to a cow which had been so crossed, have
been also kept; and these are, unlike those from the
pure Lyme animals, very decidedly Long-horn in cha-
racter! They are not so long as the horns of a genuine
Long-horn cow—perhaps about as long as those of the
more purely bred cows; but they have grown quite
downwards till they have nearly met beneath the chin,
each horn being very nearly asemi-circle, and presenting
a strong resemblance to the drooping horns of some of
Bakewell’s and other Long-horn cows. This may perhaps
be a singular instance of a peculiarity, derived from
some very remote ancestor on one side or the other,
again breaking out in consequence of a fresh cross; and
it is the more remarkable as one of the two breeds
crossed together was a hornless one.

In habits, the old Lyme cattle very much resembled
those at Chillngham. They were equally wild and
timid as a rule, and quite as dangerous if assailed or
pushed hard, and especially the cows when they had
young calves. It is said that poachers were particularly

252 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

careful not to run the risk of coming across them. The
cows were very good milkers, and, like the wild cows
mentioned by Sir William Brereton in the Bishop of
Durham’s park, made their calves “ wonderous fatt.”
Like the Chillinghams, too, they frequented the highest
ranges of the park im fine weather, while in rain or
storm, or when these threatened, they habitually kept in
the valleys and lower grounds. So invariably was this
the case, that the neighbouring farmers considered them
an infallible barometer, and when about to mow, make,
or carry hay, never commenced operations till they had
ascertained in what part of the park the wild cattle
were.

They were, I believe, larger than any breed of wild
cattle now existing in this country. The Chartley bull,
though an average specimen of that herd, is said by all
who knew them to be much inferior in size; they were
higher on the leg, more up-standing, and longer in the
body-—very large cattle, with strong bone, much substance,
and a large amount of flesh about the neck and dewlap.
They had abundance of long, rough hair, which, in the
males, was very fully developed, curly, and mane-like on
the head and fore quarters ; and the hide was of immense
thickness. They were very grand and symmetrical in
appearance, and their movements were distinguished by
a peculiar majestic stateliness. Their flesh was excellent;
but there does not seem to have been any record kept of
their weights. For a great many years, indeed, none
but cows were ever slaughtered, and latterly not even
these.

Whether the wild cattle at Burton Constable and
Wollaton, which appear to have been larger than most
others, were as large as these, I have not been able to

THE BURTON CONSTABLE HERD. — 259

ascertain ; but they had certainly a better pasture. My
impression is that the Lyme Park cattle, in size and in
some other respects, resembled the ancient Bos urus more
nearly than any other recently existing park breed ; and
the horns preserved at Lyme, and especially those on
the skeleton head of the cow, appeared to me to grow
very similarly in form to the horns of that animal.

The herd of white cattle at Burton ConsTaBLZ, in
the Hast Riding of Yorkshire, deserves our attention
next. It is mentioned by Bewick, in 1790, as having
been then a few years extinct. The fine old house and
park of Burton Constable are situated in the parish of
Sproatley, in the richest and flattest part of Holderness,
just where it is narrowing towards Spurn Head, and
about fourteen miles across from Kingston-upon-Hull to
the east coast. If a straight lme is drawn from that
town to the coast, Burton Constable lies nearly equi-
distant between them. It formerly belonged to the
ancient family of Constable, and is now the property
of Sir F. A. Talbot Clifford-Constable, whose father,
remotely connected with that family by marriage,
succeeded to their estates and took their name.

In the splendid old Manor House there is one of the
finest libraries in Yorkshire, and therein (my information
being derived from a person who was allowed to examine
it in the time of the late baronet) a collection of MSS.,
written about the middle of the last century by “the
learned William Constable,” upon various subjects :
horses, cattle, agriculture, and county history; and
which in all probability contain some valuable references
to the herd of wild cattle which then inhabited the
park. I write this for the benefit of those who may

254 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN

pursue such studies after me, the library of Burton
Constable being at present a sealed book. This is the
only case in which I have been refused information. We
must therefore depend upon Bewick’s brief account of
this herd, which is as follows :—

“Those at Burton Constable, in the county of York,
were all destroyed by a distemper a few years since.
They varied slightly from those at Chillingham, having
black ears and muzzles, and the tips of their tails of the
same colour. ‘They were also much larger, many of
them weighing sixty stone; probably owing to the
richness of the pasturage in Holderness, but generally
attributed to the difference of kind between those with
black and with red ears, the former of which they
studiously endeavoured to preserve.”

Bewick was probably right in supposing that the
richness of the pasturage in Holderness had much to do
with increasing the size of the Burton Constable cattle.
Undoubtedly it would have that effect, if they enjoyed
it for only a few generations ; much more would this be
the case if, as is likely, they had depastured there for a
great length of time. Yet this may not have been the
only cause; for many other circumstances tend to pro-
duce some variation, especially when a herd has been
confined for centuries in a particular park: two of the
stronger of these being selection and close inter-breeding,
or the absence of them. like Bewick, I cannot attach
much influence to their having black ears rather than
red. With some exceptions, the tendency to produce
ears of either colour indifferently has appeared in most

of the park breeds, and generally the prevalence of
one colour or the other has been obtained by selec-
tion ; and Bewick’s words certainly imply that here the

PROBABLE ORIGIN OF THE HERD. 255

black-eared were specially selected—“ they studiously
endeavoured to preserve” the latter. It is therefore
quite certain that the red ear was sometimes produced
in this herd. .

As the Burton Constable herd was, unlike most
others, far removed from the great mountain range and
its immense forests, it would seem that these cattle were
probably brought here from some other place. I will
poimt out some of the sources from which they may
have been derived. The Bishops of Durham had a large
park and palace in Howdenshire, then subject to his
jurisdiction; and Hutchinson, in his “ History of
Durham,” mentions several of the Constable family,
who were Seneschals for the Bishop of Durham’s estates
in Howdenshire. Very near to Burton Constable was
the rich and well-managed Cistercian Abbey of Meaux,
or “de Melsa,” which had frequent dealings with the
Constables ; and in the same neighbourhood was the
Cistercian nunnery of Swine, granted, in the third and
fourth year of Philip and Mary, by the queen to Sir
John Constable. From one or other of the parks
belonging to these great ecclesiastical houses these wild
cattle may have been obtained. I think, however, it is
much more probable that they were brought from the
banks of the Tees—the native home, as we have seen,
of the wild bull; for there, five mules south-east of
Barnard Castle, the Constables have long possessed
Wycliffe Hall, intermediate between it and Darlington.

“'The park of Burton Constable,” says Shirley, “is
undoubtedly very ancient. At present it contains 29(
acres.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Somerford Park a Domesticated Herd—Probably connected with the
Lyme Park and Chartley Herds—My Visit in 1875—Points of the Cattle
—Their Fine Milking Qualities—Probable Use of Diluted Crosses—
Antiquity of the Herd—Its Origin—Interesting Evidence as to Colour of
the Wild Cattle—The Wollaton Hall Herd—Existing in 1790—Was a
Polled Herd—Mr. Burton’s Account—Rev. Mr. Willoughby’s—This Herd
only semi-domesticated—Extinguished by Negligence and In-breeding—
Probable Origin of the Wollaton Herd—Greater Tendency to Black in the
Southern Herds.

Tue Somerrorp Park Herp demands our attention
next. It is a domesticated herd, and a polled one; but
its cattle are very characteristic, and have all the peculiar
features of the White Forest breed. It is certainly of
great, though unknown, antiquity; and is probably—
now that the Gisburne Park cattle are extinct, and the
Hamilton herd has acquired horns—the best represen-
tative yet extant of the hornless and tame variety of
the originally wild white breed.

Somerford Park, the seat of Sir Charles Watkin
Shakerley, Bart., is a very fine place, from three to five
miles—for the park extends to a great distance by the
side of the public road—from Congleton, a small town
on the Derbyshire side of Cheshire. Jt does not now
contain deer, but is divided into large enclosures ; the
oaks and other timber trees are very fine, and the quality
of the soil and of the grass it produces is very good.
Like almost every other place where we do not find the
white breed notoriously an imported one, this park is

SOMERFORD PARK. 257

situated near to the slopes, anciently covered with wood
and wild forests, of the great central range of mountains
which extends from the Trent to the Clyde. It is little
more than ten miles, as the crow flies, from the won-
derful rocky defile called Ludchurch, situated near
the western extremity of a very extensive district of
moorlands, uplands, and ancient forests, and traditionally
said to be the place where Friar Tuck officiated in the
presence of Robin Hood and his merry men. Lyme
Hall, so celebrated for its wild cattle, is only about
fifteen miles from Somerford towards the north-east ;
while Chartley, still more renowned, is about thirty miles
distant towards the south-east. The three herds form
a group, and possibly had a strong family resemblance.
In the present state of the Lyme Park herd, it is indeed
impossible to speak positively on this point with regard
to it; but it will be evident, from what follows, that
the Somerford cattle, though hornless and domesticated,
have much in common with the Chartley. Perhaps,
however, they are still more nearly allied to the Gis-
burne and others which came from Whalley Abbey:
both were hornless, and both are found in the neigh-
bourhood of ancient forests, at the western foot of the
great central mountain range. Avoiding the old “ forest
roads °—which, passing by Wildboarclough (a deep
ravine, whose name sufficiently indicates its former wild
inhabitants) and Ludchurch, sacred to Friar Tuck; and
which roads even then, in the height of summer, were
said to be so rugged as to require a very large amount
of time and considerable horse-power—lI started from
Buxton with a friend early on August 6th, 1875; taking
the rail, vd Stockport and Macclesfield, to Congleton.
On arriving at Somerford Park, I met with great
R

258 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

attention from the bailiff, Mr. H. Ford, who, having
acted in that capacity for twenty years, showed us every-
thing ; and we had also with us the old huntsman, who
had been there for forty years.

The herd, which is without horns, consisted of
twenty head in all. There were no steers, and only
two bulls—one three years old, and about to be sold
to the butcher because not so useful as he should be;
the other a big calf, eight or nine months old, and
intended for future use. There were nine pure-bred
cows, three in-calf heifers from them, and one cow-calf
a week old. Besides these, there were four half-bred
cows by pure-bred sires, and one two-year-old heifer
from one of these: she is in calf toa pure bull. An
old and very fine bull, which the bailiff much regretted
I had not seen, had been sold to the butcher not long
before.

The three-year-old bull, which we saw tied up, and
which we handled, was on short legs: not very high-
standing, but compact and well made ; fine in the bone;
the hair rather wiry—but then it must be remembered
that he was certainly out of condition and somewhat
hide-bound, for the bull-calf handled very differently.
He was fair in the ribs and loin; not particularly neat,
nor yet especially defective, in the hind quarters; mode-
rately good in the twist, but rather light in the leg, and
in these respects resembled (as did the herd generally)
the wild animal. The fore-quarters, chest, girth, and
bosom, very good; plates and fore-flank remarkably
good; shoulders very neat, and head and neck very
beautiful—the head broad, short, and blood-like; the
neck strong, very much arched, and of great substance.
There was a tendency to a mane, and the bailiff assured

THE SOMERFORD HERD. 209

me that this was usual in the males when they had their
full coats. The colour was pure white ; the ears, rims
of the eyes, muzzle, and hoofs being quite black. There
were a few black spots on the fetlocks of the two fore-
legs, and immediately above the bare black skin of the
muzzle was a strong, deep black line, perhaps an inch
wide; and immediately above it, clustering together,
there were a few small black spots, so clearly defined
that my friend mistook them for flies, which they
looked much like. This bull had no black spots else-
where.

I have described this animal particularly, because I
consider that he fairly represents the ancient character
of the herd. From Sir Charles’s remarks, and still
more from those of the bailiff, I am satisfied that these
cattle were much more uniformly pure white, with only
the ordinary black points, than they are at present.
Like all other old herds of the Forest breed of white
cattle, they have a strong tendency to produce small
black spots on the neck, sides, and legs; and this the
proprietors admire and encourage: many of them have
therefore become more or less speckled. The young bull-
calf, reserved for future use, is very decidedly marked
with black spots, and has a good deal of black on all
four legs. He is a very excellent young animal, very
good in all his points, and, except in colour, would pass
muster in any Short-horn herd. His fore-quarters and
breast were unimpeachable; his touch soft and good,
with plenty of pelt; and he had abundance of long,
straight hair, not particularly mossy in character.

The heifer-calf, a week old, we saw next: it was
very pretty, and, except the usual points, was pure white
without spots. This was the only one that showed any

R 2

260 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

indication of wildness. All the others were very tame ;
yet none of the females, all of whom we saw in the open,
would allow us to handle them; but this calf, which
was by itself in a large loose-box, was certainly much
more timid than domestic calves usually are. This may
very likely be the result of inherited tendencies only
partially suppressed.

The cows, as I have said, were thirteen in number,
four of them being: half-bred. One of these latter was,
the bailiff said, from a perfectly black cow. Notwith-
standing this, she contained much more white than
would have been supposed, and her heifer, which we
saw afterwards, still more. The other three were from
ordinary Short-horn cows, which were all, I understood,
horned, and with a certain amount of colour; yet two
of these were hornless and pure white—one with white,
the other with red ears; while the third, a light roan,
had one small abortive snag—it could not be called a
horn. There cannot be a stronger proof of the pre-
potency of their white sires.

Of the nine pure-bred cows, one showed a great deal
of black on the head, sides, and legs, the back and belly-
lines being clear white: this gave her much the appear-
ance of a Long-horn. One was, on the head, neck,
sides, and legs, so speckled, that she might fairly be
called a “flea-bitten grey;” and in this respect she
strikingly resembled one of the stuffed heads of the
Chartley cows which I had seen in the Hall there. Four
others were more or less speckled—but none of them to
a great extent—with small, very clearly-marked black
spots, principally on the neck, and more partially on
the sides. These spots were generally a good way apart
from each other, and in most of them—though very

POINTS OF THE SOMERFORD CATTLE. 261

distinct and clear, so that they could be seen at a con-
siderable distance—they were very few in number. It
must also be borne in mind that early in August, when
I saw them, a cow’s hair is shorter and sleeker than at
most other times of the year, and that these spots would
not have been nearly so visible when the cows had on
them their full natural coat of hair. Three cows were
pure white, or very nearly so. In all there was a cer-
tain amount of actual black, or of black spots, imme-
diately above the hoof on the front part of the fore-leg ;
and in all there was a line, as in the bull, of about an
inch wide, of jet-black hair round the jet-black muzzle—
the line of demarcation between this and the white hair
of the face being very distinct, and the contrast particu-
larly striking. In some of the cows the teats were all
black, the udder itself being white; in others they
were about half black, the extremities being of that
colour. The tails were all white.

It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the strong
pre-disposition to produce black spots, black calves very
seldom appear—not nearly so often as at Chartley. The
bailiff tells me that during the twenty years he has had
charge of the herd this has only occurred twice.

The description of the bull as to form applies also
to the cows, except that they were somewhat neater in
their hind quarters. Their worst point was that some—
but by no means all of them—drooped a little in the
centre of the back. Their grand point was the fore
quarter; they had shoulders which Sir Charles Knight-
ley would have envied. For females in milk, the neck
was unusually good and well up, and upon it was
beautifully set a charming, blood-like female head—
comparatively short, but very wide across the eyes and

262 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

forehead, in which point the difference between the pure-
bred stock and the others was very observable. Con-
sidering their great milking powers, their girth, width
through the heart, and depth and fulness of bosom, were
extraordinary. So was also the large amount of flesh
they carried; and as a whole they were most beautiful,
graceful, and stylish objects among the trees of that fine
park, decorating it in the same peculiarly striking man-
ner as is the case at Chillingham. And my friend—a
man of great taste—observed, when they were brought
up by the herdsman from a distance :—“ It was a sight
to see them walk up,’ so nobly majestic was their
carriage. On their polls they all wore, in greater or
less abundance, the toppin of long hair I had seen at
Chartley, and the bailiff considered this a peculiar
hereditary distinction of the race.

What has been said of the cows applies to the three
in-calf heifers—their daughters. All were fine, well-
grown cattle, quite equalling in size any average Short-
horn dairy cows in those parts of the country where
the growth of the Short-horn is well developed. Usually
they are kept in quite an ordinary manner, and are
reared like common dairy cattle: their principal advan-
tage being that the land on which they pasture is
undoubtedly good. Unfortunately, no steers have ever
been kept; but the cows, when fed, average ten score a
quarter, or fifty-seven stone of fourteen pounds. I can
now easily understand the old herdsman at Gisburne
Park declaring that the wild cattle there, which these
much resemble, were as large as Short-horns. The
meat, I was told by the bailiff, is very fine in quality
and of most delicious flavour.

Tt is, however, their milking powers that make the

MILKING QUALITIES OF THE HERD. 263

Somerford cows such great favourites with their owners.
The house is a very large one; the establishment cor-
responds, and is supplied with every product of the
dairy from this herd: in consequence, the cows calve at
all times of the year. The beautifully formed and
largely developed udders of the cows showed very
plainly that they were deep milkers; and the milk,
which I tasted, is very rich. The milk given at each
meal by the cow which had calved a week before filled
—and even more than filled—a milk-kit which was
shown to me, the capacity of which I carefully tested.
It held something more than twelve imperial quarts—
about half a pint more; so that this cow was giving
more than twenty-four quarts, or six gallons, a day;
and the old herdsman assured me that this cow was not
superior to some of the others. When I was there the
family was absent from home, and the dairy-maid was
taking advantage of this to make large quantities of
cheese.

Although the general management of the cattle and
the rearing of the young stock are on a similar system
to that pursued in well-conducted farmers’ dairies, the
very greatest attention has been paid to two points.
The first of these is the most careful selection of the
young stock kept for breeding purposes. ‘This is care-
fully supervised ; and every calf which, in colour, form,
or any other respect, does not come up to the required
standard, is sacrificed.

The other point attended to, has been purity of
descent in the bull used. ‘There has certainly been
much close breeding, and to this is owing, in the main
(combined as it is with careful selection), the singular
uniformity of character in the herd and the preservation

264. WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GRHAT BRITAIN.

of its ancient type. Yet I think there can be no doubt
that highly diluted crosses have occasionally been taken,
and that to this the continuation of the herd, when so
many similar ones have perished, is chiefly due; mdeed,
the bailiff admitted both the fact and the result. It
has, however, been done with consummate skill, and
evidently to no greater extent than imperative necessity
required. As it 1s, perhaps, there are some indications of
infertility. The cows indeed seem to be regular breeders,
but the bull was found fault with; and the number of
young females is not so great as might have been ex-
pected. ‘To this it was replied that for a year past the
calves had been almost entirely bulls; and it is also
certain that a herd of this kind, kept for the purposes
it is, does not require the rearing of much young stock,
and that no more are reared than are entirely approved
of and are likely to be wanted. The four half-breeds,
however, seem to show that the herd has fallen some-
what short of its own requirements.

No calves are sold for breeding purposes, and at
present all the bulls are reserved for the exclusive use
of the proprietor; but I understand that formerly this
was not to the same extent the case, and that the
tenants’ and neighbours’ cows were occasionally admitted
to the Somerford bulls.

Tt is to be regretted that no record, or even tradition
with regard to the origin of this herd exists, for its ap-
pearance bespeaks great antiquity. Sir Charles Shakerley
says :—‘ We have no history of how they came or how
long they have been here. I am of the third generation
which has known nothing about them. The tradition
is that they have been here two hundred years.” The
probability seems to me to be that they have been there

PROBABLE ORIGIN OF THE HERD. 265

much longer. They may have been derived from some
ancient monastery, one of which—Vale Royal—only
some twelve miles distant, had a somewhat similar
breed ; or they may have come from Gisburne Park, or
from the kindred herds at Whalley Abbey and at Mid-
dleton, of the Lancashire Asshetons, many of whom
married into Cheshire; or they may have been, like
those at Chartley and at Lyme—when first introduced
to Somerford—wild denizens of the adjacent wild
forests ; but which of these they were originally, no one
can now say.

The Somerford herd is of great importance, as
showing what and of how great value the numerous
ancient herds of white polled cattle were. Perfect and
in working order—retained, too, as pure as is compatible
with continuance—it gives us an excellent idea of what
the Gisburne and the Hamilton cattle were originally.
This herd seems to be also a connecting link between
the domesticated white cattle and the wild, and also
between those which had horns and those which were
polled: for while the Somerford cattle are, in character
and in type, nearly allied to those at Gisburne Park-—
themselves wild, but many of whose congeners were
domesticated—an experienced eye cannot fail to trace a
very close resemblance between them and the wild
horned breed at Chartley. The mere circumstance of the
want of horns bespeaks only an originally accidental,
but perhaps long continued, variety; and I think that
if the Chartley horns could be added to the Somerfords,
or the Chartleys become polled, small indeed would be
the differences of appearance between the two.

But it seems to me that one of the circumstances
which makes the Somerford herd of the greatest im-

266 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

portance is, that there has been tried the important
experiment, with regard to colour, which naturalists
complain has not been tried at Chillingham, Hamilton,
or Chartley. With regard to the two former, Professor
Low says:—“One circumstance, common to both”
(Chillingham and Hamilton) “the herds of wild oxen
referred to, is the tendency of the young to deviate from
the ‘marking,’ as it is termed, of the parents: that is, to
become altogether black or altogether white, or to have
black ears in place of red ears, and so on. ‘These
animals are destroyed, and, therefore, the interesting
part of the experiment is interrupted of showing what
characters they would assume were they to be left in
the natural state.” And with regard to the Chartley
cattle he says:—‘ All the black calves are destroyed ;
and thus, as in other cases, we are unable to know what
ultimate character of colour the race would assume.”

Mr. Darwin forms a very similar opinion. He
admits indeed that our park cattle, “not allowed to
roam freely and to cross with other herds,” are more
subject to variations than “truly wild animals.” He
admits also the “tendency in wild or escaped cattle to
become white, with coloured ears.” But he comes to
the conclusion that to preserve uniformity, “ even within
the same park, a certain degree of selection—that is, the
destruction of the dark-coloured calves—is apparently
necessary ;”’ and even that, from their occasional ap-
pearance, “it is extremely doubtful whether the
original Bos primigenius was white.”

Whether this tendency to a certain amount of black
arises from a disposition to variation, induced by a sort
of semi-domestication, or from reversion to a remote
ancestor, or from both, it is impossible to say. It may

THE QUESTION OF BLACK MARKINGS. 267

arise from both; for while in all the herds there is some
tendency thereto, it seems far the least in the herd
which is the freest and the wildest, and that is the one
at Chillimgham. Yet even in this there has always
been a tendency to certain black markings, which are
common to all the herds. Black as well as red ears, and
_ spots upon the neck—which last the most rigid selection
has not altogether suppressed at Chillingham, as the
skin of the Prince of Wales’s bull showed—these may
be considered, I think, hereditary tendencies. But I do
not believe that in a state of nature the Forest breed
would ever become black, at least in this country. I do
not indeed assert that 1f you reared black calves, from
Chartley or elsewhere, and bred from them izter se, you
might not produce a black race; but then this would
be the result of strong selection by man, in an opposite
direction from that of which naturalists now complain.
But it is not certain that even then you would obtain
such a result, for the experiment has not been tried; and
it is quite possible that these dark-coloured calves
might, when they grew up, assume much lighter
colours, as is the case with those of a kindred race on
the Russian Steppes. Suppose, however, that these
black calves had been born from parents of the Forest
breed while still wild (which we have no reason for
believing they ever were), and they themselves had
continued of this colour, is there any reason for
thinking that they would, to any material degree, have
affected the colour of the race? JI apprehend not.
Certain individuals would perhaps have been found, as
they have been now, spotted with black on the head,
neck, and sides, or, as in some of the Continental cattle,
of a light fawn colour or ashen grey on some of these

268 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

parts, the neck particularly ; but as a whole the breed
would have continued to be what it is now—white,
with black points.

My reason for believing so is, first, that for hundreds
of years, when wild, both in England and in Scotland,
this breed of cattle did, when it could not be subjected
to selection of any kind, maintain completely the same
uniformity of colour which it now possesses; and
secondly, so also do those semi-wild Continental races
which most nearly approximate to its type. There may
be some slight differences of the black markings, but in
all the great characteristic—the all-prevailing colour—
is white.

I cannot but think that the Somerford Park herd
remarkably corroborates this view. If the experiment,
to which Professor Low and Mr. Darwin have alluded,
has not been tried fully there, it has at least been tried
to a great extent. An increased amount of black mark-
ings has been approved and fostered; and, of course, a
tendency to black spots on the head, neck, and sides,
which in many places would be suppressed, here show
themselves; yet they amount to nothing more, after all,
than a full development of certain hereditary and
secondary markings, such as many Continental races
show. The marked and primary colour is white, some-
times with these omnipresent black points somewhat
more prominently shown than in herds where it has
long been the practice to endeavour to obliterate
them. Sometimes, as in the case of several of the
cows, of the bull, and of the young cow-calf I saw, the
white is unadulterated with any black, save what is
common to all these ancient herds; and it is still more
curious that at- Somerford, where exceptional black

THE WOLLATON HALL HERD. 269

markings have been cultivated, fewer black calves have
been born than in some herds where these variations
have been systematically suppressed.

The Wo.ttaton Hatt herd of wild cattle has become
extinct during the last fifty years. It belonged to the
family of Willoughby, Barons Middleton, so created on
the last day of December, 1711, in the tenth year of
Queen Anne. They are paternally descended from the
Willoughbys—Barons Willoughby d’Eresby and Barons
Willoughby of Parham—a cadet of which house married
Bridget, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir Francis
Willoughby,* the owner of Wollaton (and of Middleton,
Warwickshire) in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and the
builder of its famous mansion. Wollaton Hall is
scarcely three miles west from Nottingham, and the
entrance to its beautiful park much less. It is on the
summit of a bold hill, and commands extensive views
over the rich and picturesque Vale of Trent on one side,
and over the fine country which was once the royal
Forest of Sherwood, on the outskirts of which it is
situated, on the other. It is the chef d@euvre of the
Elizabethan architect, Thorpe, who built Burleigh,
Longleat, and other celebrated houses, some of them
larger, none so striking and commanding as this. The
stone with which it is faced was brought from Ancaster,
in Lincolnshire, on the backs of dray-horses, coal being
taken back to Lincolnshire in the same manner in
return—the state of the roads in the Vale of Belvoir,
through which it was necessary to pass, then and long

* Sir Francis Willoughby was descended from Ralph Bugge, of Not-
tingham, who purchased lands at Willoughby-on-the- Wolds, in the time of

Henry III., from which the Wollaton Willoughbys derived their name.
See Thoroton’s “ Nottinghamshire :” under heading of “ Wollaton.”

270 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

after precluding any other mode of carriage of heavy
goods.

The Wollaton herd of wild cattle were generally
known in the neighbourhood as “Tur Oup Park
Breep”—a name clearly indicative of very remote
antiquity. ‘They have been extinct a little over fifty
years. ‘They must have been well known and celebrated
when Bewick wrote in 1790, for he classes this herd
among the five “only breeds now remaining in the
kingdom” of those ancient herds formerly so “nu-
merous, and he assigned to the Wollaton herd the
second place in the list. When I was, as a boy,
frequently in the neighbourhood, they had only recently
died out, and I am able to give a fair account of them,
obtained from those who knew them well. The late
Hon. and Rev. C. J. Willoughby, Rector of Wollaton,
whose recent and sudden death is so much to be de-
plored, took much interest in the subject, and supplied
me with the results of his imquiries ; and through the
kindness of Mr. Wilham Kirkland, of Beeston, near
Nottingham, whose father was born at Wollaton, I have
obtained—besides some valuable reminiscences of his
own—much information from Mr. Thomas Burton, of
Beeston, now over seventy, who was born at the “ King’s
Head” Inn, Wollaton (now turned into cottages), which
his father then kept, and where he himself lived till
quite grown up. Mr. Burton says “that he well
remembers the white cattle; that they had black noses
and black ears; he does not recollect ever seeing any
with red ears; they had a very fine circlet of black
round the eyes. They were polled, or without horns,
and were called ‘the old park breed ;’ they were fine
beasts, and partially domesticated, some of the cows

THE HERD OF GREAT ANTIQUITY. 271

being milked, but some of them were too wild for this.
He well remembers some men coming to his father’s
public-house when he was something over twenty, and
their saying—‘ Well! the old park breed is done away
with.’ ”

Mr. Burton strongly insists that they were polled,
and called “the old park breed;” and Mr. Kirkland,
whose father was born at Wollaton in 1782, tells me
that he has often heard him mention both the above
circumstances. ‘These cattle became extinct in the time
of Henry, sixth Lord Middleton (who succeeded 4th of
June, 1800, and died 19th of June, 1835). He was a
very eccentric nobleman: once shot a woodcock off a
bull’s back for a wager, and once drove a team of oxen
in his carriage ; and the story got about that the animals
so employed were some of the wild cattle. Mr. Burton
shows that this was not the case. Some Devons were
also kept as domestic cattle, and the bull which his lord-.
ship rode was a Devon, “and it was put up at the
‘King’s Head.’” Mr. Burton adds, that the old park
cattle “ were larger and finer than the Devons.”

My other information is derived from the late Mr.
Willoughby, Rector of Wollaton, and the present Lord
Middleton’s brother. He first applied to Mr. C. Chouler,
a gentleman well known, and for many years steward of
the Lords Middleton. All the information he could
give was, that when he went to Wollaton in the fifth
lord’s time, in 1792 (which must have been as a boy),
‘they were in the park,” and that “the sixth lord also
had them several years; but as they began to deteriorate
and fall off in size, his lordship adopted the Devon
breed.” Mr. Henry Moody, whom Mr. Willoughby
got to make further inquiries, “derived some further

272 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

information from a fine old man who was formerly con-
nected with the Wollaton stables, and who now lives at
Radford. ‘He tells me that fourteen of them died at
one time from eating dead branches cut from the trees
near the Hall; and that, as they would breed no longer,
and were so thinned by this accident, Mr. Chouler
ordered them to be sold and slaughtered, which the
then lord afterwards regretted. He says they were
pure white in colour, with black at the tips of their noses
and tails and some of their feet, but spotless elsewhere.
He speaks in the highest terms of their symmetry and
fine size, and declares that nothing he has ever seen, at
Smithfield or elsewhere, has been at all comparable to
these white cattle.’ ” *

The last strongly expressed opinion is corroborated
by Mr. Burton, who says that they were “ fine beasts,”
and that they were “larger and finer than the Devons ”
—and this, it must be remembered, at a time when “ they
began to deteriorate and fall off in size.” What must
the ‘‘old park breed” at Wollaton have been ere such
deterioration and diminution in size commenced? And
the above statement is the more remarkable because,
within a mile of the park gate, and on the direct road
from Wollaton to Nottingham, was then kept, and
paraded night and morning the public road on its way
to and from its pastures near the Trent, one of the finest
Short-horn herds in the kingdom—that of Mr. John
Wilkinson, of Lenton—which, derived at first from cattle
purchased at an early period from Mr. Charles Colling,
had since been bred with consummate skill and judg-
ment; and then enjoyed a local celebrity so great that

* This description is from a letter of Mr. Willoughby quoting one from
Mr. Moody.

ITS FINAL EXTINCTION. 273

the above informant must certainly have known it.
This circumstance tends much to enhance our opinion
of the value of the Wollaton “old park breed.”

This breed was clearly, to a certain extent, domesti-
cated in its later years, but its original wild nature still
remained, and prevented its being altogether subjugated
by man. I conceive it to have been in that transition
state in which Sir John Orde’s herd at Kilmory now is,
or in which the descendants of the wild Middleton and
Whalley Abbey herds were at Gisburne Park—a partial
domestication, not so complete as others of the same
variety have since attained in Norfolk. The end of this
herd was, according to the accounts of those who knew
the cattle best, that “they began to deteriorate and fall
off in size °—‘“‘ that they would breed no longer”’—and
that, finally, an unfortunate accident and lamentable neg-
ligence combined, helped to consummate more quickly
the ruin which in-breeding had wrought.

The pasturage of the park, which is of considerable
extent, is fairly good, but not particularly rich. Some
few remarks must be made with respect to the probable
origin of the herd, though nothing positive can be ascer-
tained. It seems reasonable to suppose that from the
grand old Forest of Sherwood this wild breed came : either
immediately and directly, or derived at an early period
from some ancient park, or later from some suppressed
monastery. If the second of these suppositions is
the true one, these cattle may have come from the
royal park of Beskwood, only some three miles distant,
and in the heart of Sherwood Forest.* ‘The King’s

* The Royal Huntings in the “ King’s Hag of Beskwood” have long
since ceased, as Dr. Thoroton tells us, in his “ History of Nottingham-
shire,” written in 1677. He says:—‘ Before the troubles it was well —

Ss

274 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Hag of Beskwood,” as it was called, was “ enclosed
with a pale,” and contained a royal residence,* where
Edward III. certainly came for the purpose of hunting.
It was of great extent, and contained every variety
of game. The two Sir Richard Willoughbys, father
and son, who were the “ great advancers” of this
family, lived in the reigns of Edward II. and IIL.,
and the son was a judge of high repute, and “some-
times Chief Justice when Galfridus le Scrope, the
Chief Justice, was gone on the King’s business beyond
the seas.” About the same time, more than one
of the family of Willoughby in succession were the
Royal Foresters in Beskwood Park; and to this period
of royal favour I should be inclined to assign the intro-
duction of the wild cattle to Wollaton, either from
Beskwood Park or from the forest which surrounded it.

stocked with red deer. But now it is parcelled into little closes on one
side, and much of it hath been plowed, so that there is scarce either wood
or venison: which is too likely to be the fate of the whole Forest of
Shirewood.” Beskwood was bestowed by Charles II. upon his son by
Nell Gwynne, created Duke of St. Albans, in whose family it still
remains; and, except just in the purlieus of the dukeries, the glories of
Sherwood are altogether gone, as Dr. Thoroton so mournfully anti-
cipated. Old men, not many years dead, remembered its last relie—
Thorneywood Chase—and the fallow deer crossing the enclosed farms
within the boundaries of the forest as they went down to water, quite
undisturbed unless they got beyond its ancient limits, in which case the
deer-stealers often shot them down. Even up to the close of the last
century the Nottinghamshire nursemaids sang to their young charges the
old ballads of Robin Hood, which they learnt in their cottage homes.
But now “ Merrie Shirewood” is a thing only of the past; and in the year
1848 died its last verderer, one of my mother’s family, the Wyldes of
Nettleworth, who had for generations supplied one .of the four ancient
officers, who bore that name, and took care of that right royal forest,
its vert, and its venison.

* Edward III., in the third year of his reign, issued several letters
patent from this place. See Thoroton’s “Nottinghamshire :” article,
“ Beskwood Parke.”

ORIGIN OF THH WOLLATON CATTLE. 275

If, however, they are derived from one of the dissolved
monasteries, it is not unlikely that they may have come
from Newstead Priory, eight or nine miles distant,
whose extensive park, taken out of Sherwood Forest,
contained at one time 2,700 head of deer.* It was
eranted at the dissolution to the Byrons, and there was
considerable connection between the two families. But
there is still a third source from which the wild herd of
Wollaton may have originated. For several hundreds
of years—certainly before the reign of Queen Elizabeth—
the Willoughbys of Wollaton have possessed, and still
possess, the fine mansion and park of Middleton Hall,
from which they take their title. This place is at the
extreme northern edge of the county of Warwick, close
to the boundary line between it and Staffordshire. For-
merly Cannock Chase came quite up to Middleton, and
Needwood Forest was only a few miles distant. At
Middleton, therefore, the Willoughbys, when they
resided there, were not far from Chartley itself, and
still nearer to the forests from which the Chartley cattle
were obtained.

The Wollaton Hall herd forms, with those at Chart-
ley, at Somerford, and at Lyme, the southernmost group
of the ancient white cattle ; and all these herds may be
said to have beer in tolerably close proximity. Somer-
ford and Lyme he in a westerly and north-westerly
direction, httle more than fifty miles from Wollaton in
a straight line: the whole country between them being
anciently a wonderful congeries of extensive forests,
moors, and hills—the favourite haunts of Robin Hood
and his associates. ‘To the south-west of Wollaton lies
Chartley, less than thirty-five miles distant. But mere
* Thoresby’s “'Thoroton,” vol. ii., p. 289. |

s 2

276 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

distance scarcely shows, so far as the wild cattle are
concerned, the actual connexion; for a few miles to
the south of Wollaton, very near indeed to it, came the
Forest of Charnwood, in Leicestershire, and that again
joined Needwood, which went up to Chartley—the small
town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, the scene of Sir Walter
Scott’s tournament in “Ivanhoe ”—being intermediate
between the three. Wollaton and Chartley are both a
short distance only from the river Trent on its northern
side.

It seems to me that this southern group of wild
herd retained at Wollaton, Chartley, Somerford, and
Lyme, were all inclined to grow to a larger size than
was attained by any of the cattle of the more northern
groups. The only herds which seem to have equalled
them in this respect were that at Clifford Constable
(situated far south of the great northern herds), and
perhaps those which came from Whalley Abbey, which
in point of locality is intermediate.

I think we may also conclude that in the more
southerly herds the tendency to black was the greatest.
Little is to be learnt now on this point at Lyme, yet
even there a blue-black cow with some white, may
now be seen, though its sire was a Chartley bull. But
at Chartley and at Somerford, and—judging from the
unusual circumstance of their having black tips to the
tails—I think we may assume at Wollaton and Burton
Constable also, there was in the southern herds a stronger
disposition to black than was shown by their northern
congeners. In the latter the same tendency existed, but
it does not generally appear to have been so fully de-
veloped. I cannot account for the circumstance, but
I think it right to allude to it.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Gisburne Park Herd—Related to the Middleton—Bewick’s Description, in
1790—Whitaker’s, in 1805—A Polled Herd—Originally from Whalley
Abbey—or possibly from Middleton—Its semi-domesticated Character—Be-
came extinct in 1859—Lord Ribblesdale’s Account—Rev. T. Staniforth’s—
Mr. Assheton’s—The last Animal killed on Noy. 10, 1859—The Herd
perished from In-breeding—This often perfects the Individual, but annihi-
lates the Race—The Middleton Hall Herd—Dr. Leigh’s Account, in 1700—
Then ‘‘ Wild Cattel”—and Polled—Probable Origin—Finally removed to
Gunton Park.

HAVING given in the preceding chapter, so far as it can

now be ascertained, the history of two of the English

wild herds of the hornless or polled variety of white
cattle, I proceed to describe others, whose origin was
undoubtedly in the county of Lancaster. Of these there
were two, intimately connected by the frequent inter-
marriages of the families to which they belonged, and
which may or may not have sprung from the same
source. ‘They were the GisspuRNE Park Herp, belong-
ing to the family of Lister, and the Mippieron Hai

Herp, to that of Assheton. Both were also alike in

character ; and though I first treat of the former, it is

impossible to exclude many references to the latter,
which was something over thirty miles distant, being
only from four to five miles north of the once small, but
now great, city of Manchester. |

The Gisburne Park herd is one of those mentioned
by Bewick. The park itself is the fine seat of the

Listers, Lords Ribblesdale, and is situated in the beau-

278 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

tiful valley of the river Ribble, in the district of Craven,
and in one of the most romantic parts of the northern
portion of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but close to
the confines of the north-eastern boundary of Lancashire,
from which it is only distant about four miles: the cele-
brated Pendle Hill being about twice as far off. The park
is about half-way between Clitheroe and Skipton, places
about eighteen miles apart, but is somewhat nearer
to the former. The primeval state of this country, as
narrated by its learned historian, Dr. Whitaker, has been
described before ; it was anciently, like the greater part of
the North of England, one vast district of forests, moors,
morasses, and rocks, with a few fertile and cultivated
dales intermixed. The estate once formed part of Gis-
burne Forest, while the still more extensive Forests of
Bowland and of Blackburnshire were closely contiguous.
The Listers have had considerable property in the
neighbourhood of Gisburne since the year 1312, which
they then acquired by the marriage of John Lister with
Isabel, daughter and heiress of John de Bolton, Bow-
bearer of Bowland.

The famous cattle of Gisburne Park are thus
described by Bewick in 1790 :—“ At Gisburne there
are some perfectly white, except the inside of the ears,
which are brown. They are without horns, very strong-
boned, but not high. They are said to have been
originally brought from Whalley Abbey, in Lancashire,
upon its dissolution in the twenty-third of Henry VIII.
They were said to have been drawn to Gisburne by
the ‘ power of music.’”’

Bewick’s brief description, given above, of these
cattle as they were then, is, from all I have been able to
learn, perfectly correct ; latterly some changes took place

THE GISBURNE PARK HERD. 279

in some of their markings. A few years later, Dr.
Whitaker, in his “ History of Craven,” published in
1805, gives the following account of them :—

“Gisburne Park is chiefly remarkable for a herd of
wild cattle, descendants of that indigenous race which
once peopled the great forests of Lancashire. After
their extinction in a wild state—which we know did not
take place till a short time before the age of Leland—it
is highly probable that the breed was kept up by the
Abbots of Whalley in the ‘ Lord’s Park,’ and fell into
the hands of the Asshetons, who acquired possession of
that rich domain soon after the dissolution. This species
differs from those of Lyme, in Cheshire, and Chillingham
Castle, in Northumberland—where alone in South
Britain they are now preserved—in being without horns.

“‘'They are white, save the tips of their noses, which
are black; rather mischievous, especially when guarding
their young, and approach the object of their resentment
in a very insidious manner. ‘They breed with tame
cattle; but it is to be hoped that respect for so ancient
and singular a family will induce the noble owner to
preserve them from any foreign admixtures.” *

It seems desirable that we should first investigate
their origin. Dr. Whitaker, we see, calls them the
“descendants of that indigenous race which once
peopled the great forests of Lancashire;” and in another
place, before quoted, he mentions these forests as having
been the ‘last retreats” of, amongst other animals,
“ bubali, or wild cattle ’>—‘“‘ of which tradition records
that they were transplanted into the Dean’s or Abbot’s
Park at Whalley, whence they are reported, on the same
evidence, to have been removed after the dissolution to

* “ History of Craven,” p. 37, 2nd ed.; p. 52, 3rd ed.

280 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Gisburne Park, where their descendants still remain.”
In this respect Bewick and Whitaker both agree that
these wild cattle, intermediately between the time when
they were the unreclaimed denizens of the forest and
the date of their transference to Gisburne, inhabited the
Lord Abbot’s Park at Whalley Abbey.* Nor must it
be supposed that Dr. Whitaker merely follows Bewick ;
for his son, the Rev. R. N. Whitaker, Vicar of Whalley,
says, “ that the tradition in Whalley, which he remem-
bers to have heard the old people tell, was that the
Abbots of Whalley used to have these cattle in the
Ihord’s Parke

The Cistercian Abbey, formerly dignified by the
name of “ Locus Benedictus de Whalley,” was of great
antiquity ; and itis a curious circumstance that in Saxon
and early Norman times its head, whose title was then
“Dean,” was a married man and a temporal lord. In
later times its domains were extensive, and the power of
its mitred abbot great. So early as the year 1320,
when Adam, Abbot of Cumbermere, Visitor of the
Cistercian Order, took account of its property, it had
eight hundred head of cattle, and it possessed, con-
tiguous to the Abbey itself, a large park, called “the
Lord’s Park.” This, we may be sure, was for the purpose
of recreation and hunting: for that was in those days
the special object for which such parks were made; and
nothing is more probable than that it contained wild
cattle, as many other parks then did. The only ar-
cumstances which may seem to militate against this

* Dr. Whitaker, in a note, alludes to, and seems to attach some weight
to, a tradition in the family that these cattle were brought after the dis-
solution from Gisborough Priory, in Cleveland. The distance renders this

improbable ; it is supported by no evidence ; and it seems impossible, for
Gisburne was not, it appears, imparked till long after.

NOTICES OF WHALLEY ABBHY. 281

supposition are, that in the account of the visitation of
1320 no wild cattle are specifically mentioned; and
that, when the Abbey was dissolved—John Paslew, its
last Lord Abbot, being hung for the part he had taken
in the “ Pilgrimage of Grace” on March 12th, 1536—7—
the cattle were sold off, and the lands let by the king’s
commissioner. But neither of these circumstances has,
I think, much weight. In the first place, it is probable
that in the account of the property of the Abbey, in
1320, wild cattle would be placed in the same category
as deer, and, like them, not mentioned ; and even if they
were reckoned in with the other cattle, I should scarcely
expect to find them specified: for monastic accounts of
cattle, while they classify them according to age and sex,
give, with scarcely an exception, no description whatever
of the breed or variety to which they belonged. Besides,
it 1s quite possible that the “ park breed’ may not have
been obtained till a later period. And as regards what
took place at the dissolution, it seems to me both
possible and probable that some of the deer and wild
cattle would be retained in the park as the property of
the Crown. Nothing more is reported of Whalley for
two years; and then, on April 12th, 1539, John
Braddyll, Gent., of Braddyll and Brockhole, had the
bailiwick of the demesnes (as the property of the Crown)
committed to him. Under his control, on behalf of the
Crown, the Abbey estates remained for fourteen years
more; till, twenty days only before the death of Edward
VI, they were purchased conjointly by the above
John Braddyll and Richard Assheton, a younger son of
the house of Assheton, of Leaver, for the sum of
£2,132 3s. 9d, and partitioned between the two
purchasers. Richard Assheton took the Abbey itself,

282 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

with its surrounding demesnes. He died without issue ;
and Whalley Abbey, becoming the property of his
nephew, was from that time the principal residence of
the Asshetons of Whalley Abbey and of Leaver, created
baronets June 28th, 1620.

It is a curious fact, which shows how strongly the
English cling to the memories of the past, and how
averse they are to change, that during the above transi-
tion period, while the Abbey belonged to the Crown, a
few of the old monks still remained in occupation of it.
If John Braddyll of Braddyll, acting as the deputy of the
king, dared to wink at this, we may feel pretty sure—
knowing as we do the strong hunting propensities of the
country gentlemen of the period—that he would be a
strict conservator of the remains of the Abbey deer and
wild cattle, if any such still existed, as they probably
did, under his care.

I think, then, we may adopt the above carefully ex-
pressed opinion of that cautious historian, Dr. Whitaker :
“that it is highly probable that the breed was kept up
by the Abbots of Whalley in the ‘ Lord’s Park,’ ” and
that it finally “fell into the hands of the Asshetons,”
with which view the local traditions exactly coincide.

But there was still another source from which the
Asshetons of Leaver and Whalley Abbey might have
derived the wild cattle. They were descended from a
younger son of the family of Assheton of Middleton
Hall, near Bury; and Richard Assheton, who bought
Whalley Abbey, was great-nephew of Sir Richard
Assheton of Middleton. And at Middleton we know
well that long after this time the wild bull existed, as I
shall subsequently show, and also close to it for a long
time previous ; so that even if it cannot be proved that

THE GISBURNEH CATTLE AND WHALLEY ABBEY. 283

the tradition is true (but only probable) that the wild
cattle of the Asshetons of Whalley were derived from
those of the Lord Abbot, it seems pretty certain that
_ they had them from either this source, or from Middle-
ton, or from both; for the tradition that the Gisburne
Park cattle came from Whalley Abbey is much con-
firmed by what follows respecting the connexion between
the Lister and Assheton families, to illustrate which I
give on the following page a pedigree of the Assheton
family so far as it bears upon this subject.

To return to Gisburne Park : tradition and historical
evidence corroborate each other in proving that its herd
of wild cattle was derived from Whalley Abbey, but
both, I think, concur in showing that this did not take
place so early as the time of the dissolution of the
monasteries, as asserted by Bewick. From the known
history of the Lister family this seems impossible. At the
time of the dissolution the seat of the Lister family in
the parish of Gisburne was Arnoldsbiggin, while the pro-
perty, since imparked, and called Gisburne Park, later
the domicile of the wild cattle, was then called “the
Lower Hall,’ Gisburne, and did not belong to them.
When or however acquired by the Asshetons, it
certainly belonged to Sir John Assheton, fourth and last
baronet of Whalley Abbey.* He married the widow of
Thomas Lister of Arnoldsbiggin, and, dying without
issue, the estate of Whalley Abbey reverted to his sister’s
son, Sir Ralph Assheton, second Baronet of Middleton,
his own baronetcy becoming extinct ; but he left to his
wite’s son by her previous marriage—Thomas Lister of
Arnoldsbiggin—his estate at Malham, and also all his

* Mr. Assheton, of Downham Hall, informs me that he thinks this
doubtful.—_E.

ASSHETON,

Of Assheton-under-Lyne, county of Lancaster. The elder
line ended in co-heiresses, but from a younger son, after
several generations, descended

Sir RALPH ASSHETON, Knight, Page of Honour to K. Henry VI., who,
marrying the heiress of the Bartons of Middleton, became, jure uxoris,
first of Middleton. He had issue two sons,

Sir RicHARD ASSHETON, Knight, Sir RaLPpH ASSHETON, Knight, who by
of Middleton, married Isabel marriage with the heiress of Leaver,
Talbot, and (after several genera- became of Leaver, and (after several
tions) was progenitor of generations, during which Whalley,

Malham, and Downham were ac-
quired) progenitor of

Sir RALPH ASSHETON,* of Leaver (sold
by him in 1629), Whalley Abbey, and
Malham. Created a BARONET by
K. James I., June 28, 1620, His children
were, besides others,

Sir RALPH ASSHETON, = ANN, Even- SirRautpeu, Sir EpMUND, Sir JOHN, 4th and last
of Middleton, mar- tually heiress 2nd Bart. 3rd Bart. Bart., of Whalley
ried his distant of Whalley of Leaver, of Leaver, Abbey, married the
cousin, Ann Asshe- Abbey. d.s. p., d.s. p. widow of THOMAS
ton, of Whalley LisTER, of Arnolds-
Abbey. Created a biggin, and dying
Baronet by King s. p. June 9, 1697, leit
Charles II. Aug. 17, his property in Gis-
1660. burne, Rimington,

Horton, and other
neighbouring town-
ships, and Malham,
to her son, THOMAS
LISTER, ancestor of
the present LoRD
RIBBLESDALE. (Ba-
ronetcy extinct.)

Sir RALPH ASSHETON, 2nd Bart. RICHARD, married
of Middleton, and of Whalley Mary Parker,
Abbey, jure uxoris, died in and left, besides
May, 1716, leaving several other issue, a
daughters, co-heiresses, of son, -
whom Catherine married ;
THomAS LISTER, of Gisburne, Sir RALPH ASSHETON, of Middleton, but
ancestor of the present LORD not of Whalley Abbey, 3rd and_ last
RIBBLESDALE. Baronet. Married Mary Egerton, and

dying Dec. 31, 1765, left two daughters,
co-heiresses (the Baronetcy becoming

extinct).

Mary, who had Middleton, and married in ELEANOR, married, in 1769, Sir
1760, Sir Harbord Harbord, afterwards Thomas Egerton, Bart., of
created LorRD LUFFIELD, ancestress of Egerton and Oulton, an-
the peers of that name. cestress of the Duke of

Westminster.

* From Radcliffe Assheton, younger brother of the first Baronet of Leaver and Whalley Abbey,
descends in the ninth generation the present Mr. Assheton, of Downham Hall, M.P. for
Clitheroe, the male representative of this ancient family, who has rendered me so much assistance,
Tn his pedigree there is a third intermarriage of an Assheton with a Lister of Gisburne.

THH ASSHETON FAMILY. 285

property in Gisburne, Rimington, Horton, and about
twenty other townships. He died June 9th, 1697,
and Thomas Lister, the recipient of this testamentary
benefit, placed in the year 1706 in the church of Gis-
burne a monument to his memory, “to express his
gratitude to the said Sir John Assheton, his kind
and generous benefactor.” This was the time when,
according to Dr. Whitaker, “ the Lister family removed,
after the death of Sir John Assheton, to the Lower Hall
of Gisburne, the demesnes of which have since been
enclosed for deer; it has thus acquired the name of Gis-
burne Park.” This seems to have been pretty clearly the
time when some of the wild cattle were transferred from
Whalley Abbey to Gisburne Park. It clearly could not
have been earlier, for prior to that Gisburne Park did
not exist. And the historical and traditional evidence
of this being the date of the removal of the wild cattle
from the park of Whalley to that of Gisburne quite
agree; for while Dr. Whitaker came to the conclusion
that it was ‘“ highly probable ” they had passed through
“the hands of the Asshetons,”’ the tradition of the old
people of Whalley was, a few years since, as reported by
his son, the present vicar of that place, that “when the
Asshetons ceased to live at Whalley the herd was
divided, and some went to the Listers at Gisburne, but
the tradition as to what became of the others was lost.”
Of course the latter went to the Asshetons of Middleton,
who inherited the place. The very want of circum-
stantiality of the tradition in this respect the more
proves its truth, and the historical evidence that Gis-
burne Park could not have sooner received its moiety
still further establishes it. We may, I think, safely
conclude, that after the death, in 1697, of Sir John

286 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Assheton, the last Baronet of Whalley Abbey, part of
the wild cattle in the ‘“‘ Lord’s Park ” at that place went
to Gisburne, part to be added to the previously existing
herd of his heirs, the Asshetons, Baronets of Middleton.

Nor is this all; for Thomas Lister—son of the
Thomas Lister to whom Sir John Assheton bequeathed
the ‘‘ Lower Hall,” afterwards Gisburne Park, and a part
of the Whalley wild cattle—married, in 1716, Catherine,
daughter and co-heiress of Sir Ralph Assheton of Mid-
dleton, nephew (through his mother) of the same Sir
John Assheton, and as such inheritor of Whalley Abbey
also. ‘This gave the Listers an interest in the Middle-
ton herd too, and from it the Gisburne cattle probably
received a cross. The grandson of Thomas Lister and
Catherine Assheton of Middleton was created Baron
Ribblesdale, October 26th, 1797.

I proceed to consider the Gisburne Park herd. These
cattle were unquestionably wild at first, though they
gradually became to a considerable extent domesticated,
owing very much to their small number—for many
years, not more than seven or eight—and to their being
latterly kept, not in the park, but on a farm, where their
range of pasture was much circumscribed. So lately as
1805, when Dr. Whitaker wrote, they were “ rather
mischievous,” and “ approached the object of their re-
sentment in a very insidious manner.” In the last days
of their declining state, though they had become com-
pletely tame, a touch of their old savage nature still
remained, and they were “more quarrelsome amongst
themselves than cattle usually are, and would fight, off
and on, for days.” In the year 1859 they became
finally extinct; the following pages will show us how
and why.

ACCOUNTS OF THE GISBURNE CATTLE. 287 -

I give first the information I received from the pre-
sent Lord Ribblesdale,* who succeeded to the remains
of this herd in 1832, as a minor not five years old, and
who reaped the consequences of the neglect and indif-
ference with which it had been previously treated. His
lordship says, in a letter to me, dated January 29th,
1874:—“ The cattle that used to be here have been
extinct about fifteen years. I could not keep them on
any longer; they got delicate from breeding in-and-in,
and always bred bulls at last. They were, I believe,
the old inhabitants of the forests of this part of the
country.

“When I knew mine they were not wild. They
required great care. I believe that generally the account
of them in the ‘ History of Craven’ is correct.”

The above words ought to be printed in letters of
gold, framed, and hung over every cattle-breeder’s
mantle-piece, as a warning against excessive inter-breed-
ing. I have some reason to think that this remarkable
case 1s not a solitary one; but that, as respects cattle,
one consequence of long-continued and excessive inter-
breeding is, that the cows generally, if not—as Lord
Ribblesdale affirms with respect to his—‘‘always,”
“breed bulls at last.”

The Rev. Thomas Staniforth, of Storrs, Windermere,
one of the oldest and most intelligent of English breeders,
lived at Bolton-by-Bowland Rectory, about four miles
from Gisburne, from January, 1832, to June, 1859; and
had, therefore, every opportunity of observing the Gis-
burne Park cattle. He tells me that “in size they were
as large as ordinary Short-horns, and had thick, mellow

* Since deceased ; but it is thought better not to alter the text, also
written by a hand now dead.—-ED.

288 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

hides—the hair, however, being straight and not curly ;
the ears white, but yellow inside; noses clear, like those
of Devons in colour. The cows supplied the house with
milk; they were regularly milked, but not kept in the
park, but on the opposite side of the river Ribble, on a
farm called Ellenthorpe, which Lord Ribblesdale had im
his own hands.” Mr. Staniforth had a cow “ got by a
Gisburne bull from one of the tenant’s cows; she was
white, or nearly white, and a good fair milker.

“ About 1834, the Rev. Henry Berry, one of the
best judges and breeders of cattle, took Mr. Staniforth’s
duty for a few weeks, and expressed his surprise that
these cattle were so much better in form and quality
than he had expected to have seen.” A gentleman who
saw them about thirty years since says :—‘‘'There were
then about ten; they came galloping up to the herds-
man, but did not seem more than half-wild.”

Through the kindness of Mr. Assheton, of Down-
ham Hal!, near Clitheroe, the male representative
of the ancient family to whom these wild cattle for-
merly belonged, who bas afforded me most valuable
assistance, I have had forwarded to me three photo-
graphs of the three last of the Gisburne cattle, taken
from life. They belong to Mr. Dixon Robinson, of
Clitheroe Castle. Like most photographs of cattle
taken from life, they distort their subject, and are there-
fore not suitable for illustration. They are the last
bull, the last cow and calf, and the three together. The
cattle had then—as might indeed have been expected—
much degenerated in size; but they are striking animals,
preserving the old. type—short-legged, thick and deep,
strong-boned and strong-limbed, and very heavy-fleshed.
So far as can be judged from a photograph, I should say

ACCOUNTS OF THE GISBURNE CATTLE. 289

that the ears of the calf were red inside; but it is quite
certain that it has three or four very distinctly marked
dark spots on the body—whether red or black, of course,
I cannot say, but clearly indicating in the last of the
race bred at Gisburne the same tendency to revert to
hereditary markings, long suppressed by selection, which
we find in other herds of the wild forest breed.

For the quotations which follow I am also indebted
to the report of Mr. Assheton, who made every pos-
sible inquiry for me both at Whalley and at Gisburne.
He remarks:—“‘ Dr. Whitaker says the Gisburne
cattle were white, without horns, and with é/ack noses.
There are, in his ‘Craven,’ prints of both a bull and a
cow, which in most of the copies are printed in a sort of
coffee-coloured mezzo-tinto; but some of the copies had
hand-coloured plates. I have seen such a copy, and
there the noses of the beasts are flesh-coloured, the ears
white outside, but with red hair inside them. A copy
of the ‘ History of Craven’ in the library at Gisburne
Park has the following note, opposite the statement
thatthe noses were 4/ack, in the handwriting of the first
Lord Ribblesdale: ‘The ears and noses of this species
of cattle are never black, but most usually red or
brown.’

“TL saw, November 24th, 1874, Mr. Thomas Chew,
of Gisburne, steward to Lord Ribblesdale, aged forty-
four. He told me he never remembered the herd being
above seven or eight in number; they seemed quite bred
out. They were (when he knew them) between a Short-
horn and a West Highland Scot in size. They were
quite tame, and housed in winter, as all good cattle are
here, and were milked for the house—they were mode-
rate milkers. The last cow and calf were sold to Mr.

T

290 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GRHAT BRITAIN.

Legh, of Lyme Park, and taken there by him (Mr. Chew)
in October, 1859; but this attempt to cross the breed
failed, as did a similar attempt which was made by
bringing a heifer from Lyme to Gisburne. The bull,
the last of his race, was killed at Gisburne, November
10th, 1859, at 8.35 a.m. His head is now in the kitchen
at Gisburne, but is so dirty, and apparently so badly
stuffed, that I learnt nothing from it, except that I saw
no signs of a mane. Mr. Chew said the beef of these
animals was excellent, and several other people said the
same. There was no tallow in them, but the fat and
lean all in alternate layers. When one was killed, the
beef was sold at a small price to the villagers, because it
was an old custom, and not because of any inferiority of
the beef. There were 742]b. of beef sold from the last
bull, besides scraps of offal ”—that is, that beef to the
amount of 53 stone of 14 1b. was sold.

Mr. Assheton proceeds :—‘‘I saw the same dee
Richard Hornby, who was herdsman to the cattle, and
looked about sixty years of age. He told me that the
cattle were hornless, and white in colour: a very
creamy-white towards the roots of the hair. The hair
itself was nothing particular as to length or character ;
and there were no signs of any manes (this Mr. Chew
also confirmed); their noses and hoofs were white.
They were just as tame and quiet as other cattle to
those about them, but more quarrelsome amongst them-
selves than cattle usually are, and would fight, off and
on, for days. Hornby says they were as big as Short-
horns in their best days, but were bred out for want of
a cross. He had always heard that they came from
Whalley, and had followed a band of music thence ; and
I have heard from a Whalley source as well the same

PICTURES AND REMAINS. 291

tradition of their having followed the band of music.
These cattle were kept in modern times at Hllenthorpe,
a farm outside the park at Gisburne.

“T saw the same day the picture at Gisburne Park,
which is thus entered in the catalogue: ‘Gisburne
Park, a.p. 1730, with portraits of the first Lord Ribbles-
dale’s grandfather and father, and his aunts, Catherine
and Mary Lister, with the white cattle in the back-
ground, by Nollekens.’ The white cattle are quite in
the background, and tell us nothing but that they were
white and hornless. The sign of the ‘ White Bull,’ at
the public-house at Gisburne, is a very excellent painting
by Ward, R.A., and is admitted to be an admirable
likeness of a Gisburne bull. It is a white bull, very like
a Short-horn, but without horns, and rather (but not
very much) higher shoulders, and worse quarters than a
Short-horn bull. The nose; ears, and hoofs are all
white. There is a tinge of pink inside the ears, but not
more than is needed to give the expression of shadow
and semi-transparency; I don’t think it is meant to
indicate coloured hair. This is a different and inde-
pendent picture from the bull in Whitaker’s ‘ Craven.’

““Qn December Ist, 1874, I saw the stuffed white
cow at Owen’s College, Manchester; it is ticketed as
being of the Gisburne breed of cattle, and was presented
to the curator, Mr. Boyd Dawkins informed me, before
1839, and is entered in the catalogue as ‘ the white-eared
variety. It is white all over—white ears inside and
out, white hoofs, and what probably was a white nose,
but which is now a sort of ashy-brown. ‘The hair, as it
is now, is rather short, more like that of an Alderney
than a Short-horn, with an inclination to curl about
the quarters. With the exception of sex, this looked

moe

292 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

precisely like the picture by Ward of the white bull at
Gisburne, mentioned before. It is without horns, and
stands about four feet six inches high, measured like a
horse, and is about seven feet long from the top of the
head to where the tail turns down.”

It appears from two letters in the Standard news-
paper, written by the Rev. Robert Potter, of Bulkington
Vicarage, near Rugby, dated September 7th and 9th,
1874, that his father resided at Gisburne Park from
1835 to 1840, during a part of the mimority of the
present Lord Ribblesdale, and that he gave this stuffed
specimen now in Owen’s College. Mr. Potter further
states that in 1836 he “ first saw the wild cattle,’ which
were “ white, with tawny-reddish ears.”

From the above evidence we may, I think, fairly
draw the following conclusions as regards orzgin : that the
Gisburne Park cattle came at first from Whalley Abbey,
and were most likely obtained from the Asshetons ; the
two inter-marriages of the families, through both of
which the Listers obtained property, rendering it certain
that they had every opportunity of obtaining some of
the wild cattle also from the same source. That they
did so is confirmed by tradition, and still more by the
circumstance that both herds were of the same variety.
As regards colour, it seems quite certain, from Bewick,
Whitaker, and the first Lord Ribblesdale, that from
seventy to eighty or ninety years since these cattle were
red or brown-eared, and it appears that some of them
were so when Mr. Potter saw them in 1836; their
noses Dr. Whitaker describes as black, and very possibly
he saw some of that colour, but generally they were at
the above time red, brown, or flesh-coloured, and so
some of them must have been, according to Mr.

EXTINCTION OF THE HERD. 293

Staniforth’s account, at a much later period ; finally, by
selection, these colours were extirpated: ears, muzzles,
even hoofs, were white, and they entered the Manchester
Museum as “ The White Variety.” They had anciently,
according to Bewick, more tendency to white than most
other wild herds, and that colour, being cultivated, finally
prevailed. As regards wildness, they were more ferocious
formerly than at last; but even to the end were very
pugnacious towards one another. As regards size, there
is abundant evidence to show that they were a large, fine
breed of cattle, fair milkers, and of good quality ; even
in their very last days, when they had much degenerated
and deteriorated, there is clear enough evidence to show
that they were as large as ordinary Short-horns.

The great cause of their extinction—long-continued
inter-breeding—has been clearly shown : they were “bred
out.” And the evil must have been much intensified
and its operation quickened by the small numbers of the
herd ; for many years they must have been bred from
very close relationships. Once, in the time of the late
Lord Ribblesdale, who died in 1832, an exchange was
proposed through a mutual friend, Mr. Spencer Stan-
hope, of Cannon Hall, Yorkshire, by Edward, third Lord
Suffield, of Gunton Hall, Norfolk, whose grandfather
had inherited and removed to Norfolk the Middleton
herd. The negotiation was carried on for some time,
and turned upon the question whether “black or red
noses had been the fashion at Gunton ;” thus clearly
showing that the latter colour at least was not then
considered alien to the Gisburne cattle. As the Gunton
cattle had, however, black muzzles, Lord Ribblesdale
would have none of them, and so lost for ever the
chance of perpetuating the herd. In one of his letters

294 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

his lordship mentions a curious fact. He says :—‘I have
two bulls, I think the handsomest I ever remember
of the kind.” Such is one of the singular effects of
long-continued in-and-in breeding when verging to its
close: it occasionally perfects the single animal, but
annihilates the race.

Toe Mippieron Hart Herp was, it appears to me,
quite an original one, though in later years, in conse-
quence of family relationships, intimately connected with
those at Whalley Abbey and at Gisburne. A schedule
of the pedigree of the ancient family of Assheton,
to which it belonged, I have already given ; and the Sir
Ralph Assheton, knight—whose elder son was the ances-
tor of the Asshetons Baronets of Middleton, and whose
younger son was the ancestor of the Asshetons Baronets
of Whalley—was (after being Page of Honour to King
Henry VI.), in the time of King Edward IV., Lieutenant
of the Tower of London, and at first Knight Marshal,
and afterwards Vice-Constable, of England. Their seat
was Middleton, which, though only about five miles north
of Manchester, was then in a very wild and primitive
country. The families of the two sons of Sir Ralph
Assheton re-united towards the close of the seventeenth
century, and in the year 1697 Sir Ralph Assheton of
Middleton inherited Whalley Abbey also. ‘There must,
long before that, have been a herd of wild cattle in the
park at Middleton; for about that time they were
seemingly visited by the learned Dr. Charles Leigh,
who, in his “ Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire,
and the Peak of Derbyshire,” published at Oxford, a.p.
1700, thus describes them :—‘In a Park near Bury in
Lancashire are Wild Cattel belonging to Sir Ralph

THE MIDDLETON HALL HERD. 295

Ashton of Middleton; these I presume were first brought
from the high-lands of Scotland. They have no Horns,
but are like the Wild Bulls and Cows upon the Conti-
nent of America, of which Monsieur Hennipin has given
us a full account in his travels up the River Mesashippt,
upon the Banks of which great Herds of these are
frequently seen grazing, & are Hunted by the Indians,
as the Deer by us.”

We may treat Dr. Leigh’s supposition that the
Middleton cattle came from the Highlands of Scotland
as mere surmise. He himself mentions it as such, and
gives no authority for thus supposing. But it must be
observed that, according to his account, they were clearly
not then domesticated, but “‘ Wild Cattel”’ in the park,
and “like the wild bulls and cows on the Continent of
America”; and he states this not as a mere surmise,
but as an observed fact, in the same sentence in which
he says ‘they have no horns.” I think we must
conclude that they were then really wild, park animals.
To illustrate this the more, he compares them to the
essentially wild American Bison, mis-called Buffalo, in
the valley of the Mississippi. The appearance of this
animal would probably be sufficiently well known to a
clever naturalist and philosopher like Dr. Leigh, in the
year 1700, and so it appears, from his reference, 1t was;
and its peculiar characteristic is an enormous hairy
and shaggy mane, which envelopes the fore quarters nm
such a mass of hair that the somewhat small horns are
well-nigh concealed. Not quite two hundred years
before, Boethius and Leslie had described the wild
Caledonian bulls of their day as similarly distinguished ;
and both Darwin and Sir Walter Scott have alluded to
the loss of this hairy appendage in the present day as

296 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

a decided mark of degeneracy. It is, I think, certain
that Dr. Leigh would be well acquainted with the de-
scriptions of the above Scottish writers, and it was this,
I think, which made him “presume” that the Mid-
dleton cattle “were first brought from the high-lands
of Scotland.” He probably recognised their likeness
to the description of the American bison, and to the
statements of Boethius and Leslie respecting the simi-
larly maned Scottish mountain bull, and therefore con-
sidered them, as I do, nearly allied to the latter. On
any other supposition there would have been no pre-
sumption that they came from the Highlands of Scotland
rather than from elsewhere. It would seem, then (from
the statement of Dr. Leigh, who wrote 176 years since,
at a period of time just about equi-distant from these
Scottish historians and ourselves), that at this time some
at least of the wild bulls still retained to a considerable
extent the hairy honours of their ancestors, and that a
large amount of degeneracy has taken place since; which,
indeed, the gradual decay and the ultimate extinction of
so many of the wild herds, and the difficulty experienced
in keeping up others, would lead us to expect had been
the case. That the Lancashire wild bull especially may
have been ‘‘maned” is much confirmed by the circum-
stance that when, nearly 300 years since, the Heralds’
College confirmed and restored to the Hoghton family,
as their crest, the wild bull which it was then shown
they had borne ages before (the description of the
animal being strikingly distinctive), the mane is pecu-
harly mentioned; and a further corroboration, at a
much later period, is to be deduced, as I have before
shown, from Bewick’s engraving of the Chilingham
wild bull.

ORIGIN OF THE MIDDLETON HERD. 297

A few words about the probable origin of the Mid-
dleton Park herd. The strong family connexion,
cemented by frequent inter-marriages, which existed
between the Asshetons here, those at Whalley Abbey,
and the Listers of Gisburne, renders it (in the words
of Mr. Assheton) “highly probable that had either
family by any means acquired the wild cattle, they
were very likely to have spread from them to the
others.” That such a cross did come to Middleton
from Whalley Abbey, tradition there, we have seen,
affirms; and the circumstance that the Middleton Asshe-
tons eventually inherited Whalley Abbey itself tends
strongly to confirm this traditional recollection. But I
think that history supplies us with a much more
probable account of the primal source from which they
were derived. Less than a mile, in a southerly direc-
tion, from the park at Middleton is the village of
Blakeley, the district round which produced, centuries
since, the wild bull. In speaking of “Saltfordshire,”
which included Manchester, Bolton, Bury, Orwick, &c.,
Leland says :—‘‘ Wild Bores, Bulles, & Falcons bredde
in times paste at Blakele.” There can be but little
doubt that hence, where they were found close by, the
“Wild Bulles” were driven into the large park of
Middleton Hall in very early times, as they were into
so many others. Leland wrote this account about 340
years ago; and as he speaks of these animals as wild “in
times paste,’ we appear to be justified in supposing that
they may have been introduced into the park of
Middleton long before his time.

Two singular coincidences cast light on the above
recorded facts. ‘There is still close to Blakeley a place
called ‘ Boar Green;” and the Shakerleys, of Somer-

298 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

ford Park, Cheshire, who possess a peculiar breed of
white cattle, which are undoubtedly of the same race as
those at Middleton, and, of unknown antiquity, came,
centuries since, from Shakerley in this district, only a
few miles distant from Middleton and Blakeley.

The descendants of the Middleton wild cattle are
not yet extinct. When Sir Ralph Assheton, second
baronet of Middleton, died in 1716, leaving only
daughters, his nephew, Sir Ralph, became third
baronet, and the possessor of Middleton. He died in
1765, leaving two daughters co-heiresses, and the
baronetcy became extinct. Sir Harbord Harbord, after-
wards the first Lord Suffield, married the elder daughter,
inherited Middleton and the wild cattle, and took the
latter to Gunton, his place in Norfolk. To that place
we now follow them.

CHAPTER XV.

The Gunton Park Herd originally from Middleton—Progress towards Domes-
tication in Norfolk—Portrait of the original Lancashire Bull—Lord
Suffield’s Description—Mr. Coleman’s—Resemblance to the Polled Cattle of
Somerford Park—The Herd extinct, save in Off-sets from it—Influence in
the District—Blickling Hall Herd descended from the Gunton Park Cattle
—Rev G. Gilbert’s Report in 1875—Severe Injury to the Herd from Cattle
Plague—Characteristics of the Cattle—Quite Domesticated—The Wood-
bastwick Herd—Also from the Gunton Cattle—Not now Pure—Calves
Exchanged with Blickling—Crossed with Shorthorns in 1864—Reyv. G.
Gilbert’s Report in 1875—These White Polled Cattle quite distinct from
those of Scotland or the Eastern Counties—White Cattle of Brooke
House—Proots of the Influence of the Wild Breed upon English Domestic
Cattle.

THE Gunton Park Herp, the property of the Lords

Suffield, was immediately descended from that of the

Asshetons of Middleton Hall, described just before ; it

was, in fact, a continuation of it. When Sir Harbord

Harbord, second baronet (created Lord Suffield in 1786),

succeeded in right of his wife to Middleton Hall, on

the death of his father-in-law, Sir Ralph Assheton, in

1765, he brought a part at least of the white wild cattle

of the Asshetons to Gunton, his placein Norfolk. There

they flourished; and though the Gunton herd is now
extinct, several off-sets sprang from it, some of which
have continued this ancient Lancashire race of wild
cattle down to the present time. All these are now,
however, thoroughly domesticated; most hkely, indeed,
the Middleton cattle, like the Gisburne, had, in their

later years, to a considerable extent, become so; and

300 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

this seems to be the natural fate of a wild race long
habituated to and cared for by man, unless placed in cir-
cumstances peculiarly favourable for the retention of
their wildness. At any rate, the descendants of the
Blakeley “Wild Bulles” became thoroughly tame and
domesticated in Norfolk, though they lost none of the
other characteristics of their race.

The extensive Park of Gunton is in the north-
eastern part of Norfolk, sixteen miles north of Norwich,
and four of Aylsham, Cromer, on the coast, being six
miles distant. The present Lord Suffield, though the
fifth who has held the title, is grandson only of the first
lord, who brought these cattle from Middleton some-
thing more than a hundred years since ; and through his
kindness I am able to give an exact copy of an old
picture he possesses, which, family tradition says, is the
very bull originally brought from Lancashire. Though
roughly executed, it gives a good idea of what the
old Middleton cattle and their descendants at Gunton
were, forming as it does the connecting link between
them.

The Gunton herd was in its greatest perfection in
the time of Edward, third Lord Suffield, second son of
the first lord, and father of the present peer. He died
in 1835. The herd seems to have declined and come
to an end in the time of Edward Vernon (fourth lord,
and half-brother of the present), who did not care
about it, and who also sold Middleton Hall. He died,
without issue, in 1853. The present Lord Suffield
says :—‘I perfectly recollect the animals, with their
ears black inside and white outside, and black noses; I
forget the colour of their tails. I find upon inquiry
that there were here twenty-two cows of this breed

Corns pot fo uorssassog ay) 1 Huywing » wong) “ITAT WUVd NOLNAD TVNIDIMVO

ACCOUNTS OF THE GUNTON HERD. 303

always in the dairy, and, of course, to keep them going,
there must have been many more about the place.”
Dr. Durnford, Bishop of Chichester, who about fifty.
years since was tutor to the elder brothers of the
present peer (one of them being Edward Vernon, fourth
lord), informs me that he “perfectly remembers the
herd of cattle at Gunton. They were white, with dark
brown ears and muzzle, and, I think, tail—that 1s, tip of
the tail; without horns, and large and finely made beasts.
Lord Suffield always told me that they came from
Lancashire ; they must have been brought to Gunton
by the first Lord Suffield, and from Gunton to Blickling
by the second lord, he having married the heiress of
Blickling. The Gunton herd were not fierce or wild,
but tractable, and milked regularly ; indeed, there were
no other cows in use.”

The above accounts are quite confirmed by the Hon.
and Rev. John Harbord, brother of the present lord,
and by the Dowager Lady Suffield, their mother, the
latter of whom has a vivid recollection of the herd as it
existed in the time of her husband, the third lord.

The small discrepancy with regard to the colour of
the ears—whether they were black or dark brown—is
pertectly accounted for by the fact that most wild herds
are subject to variation in this respect; and it will be
seen, as we proceed, that this was the case with the
Gunton herd and its descendants. This appears, indeed,
from the following statement (procured for me by the
Rev. George Gilbert), made in his own handwriting by
Mr. Timothy Coleman, veterinary surgeon, who lived
for many years at Antingham, close by Gunton Park :—
“The colour of this breed was white, with black ears,
and some had dark brown; nose black, no horns, very

304. WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

good skin; hoofs also black. They were very large,
big-framed beasts, with wide haunches, back, and loins,
and of considerable height at the spine-line. They
were not large consumers for their size, and generally
very healthy. The cows were capital milkers, and had
very large, well-formed udders. The calves always
came pure white, except the noses and ears, but in a
few instances inclined to cream-colour. I never recol-
lect seeing any of the true breed spotted with black or
red. The herd consisted of about forty animals, two or
three of which were bulls. They were never crossed
with any other cattle.” I have also procured, through
the Rev. John Dolphin, for forty-five years Rector of
Antingham, the following information, which he elicited
from his parishioner, Mr. Carter, Lord Suffield’s “ oldest
tenant, who well recollects the Gunton herd.” Mr.
Carter says :—“ He is certain that some had J/ack ears
and others drown.’ We may consider it, therefore, quite
established that there was a tendency to variation in
this respect, and that the predominance of one colour or
the other at any particular time would be merely the
result of selection.

It will be observed how much this herd resembled,
in its excellent milking powers, the one of the same
variety, and one probably remotely allied to it, at
Somerford Park. It is a loss to the country at large
that cattle so valuable should, through neglect, have, as
Lord Suffield says, “ gradually disappeared.” We have
seen in the account of the Gisburne cattle that the third
Lord Suffield tried to procure a cross from thence, but
that it came to nothing, because Lord Ribblesdale
objected to dark ears and muzzles. It would probably
have saved both herds. As it is, the Gunton Park herd

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HERD. 305

survives only in two herds which have sprung from it.
It had, however, while it existed, a great effect upon the
cattle of the district. ‘To such an extent was this the
ease, that when, in the memory of elderly men now
living, white polled cattle with black or brown muzzles
and ears appeared on Norwich Hill, the great local
cattle mart, they used to be called ‘“ Lord Suffield’s
breed.” The Rev. George Gilbert has also ascertained
from an independent and, he considers, ‘“‘ perfectly com-
petent”’ elderly witness,* a confirmation of Coleman’s
statement with respect to the great size of the Gunton
eattle, and particularly of the steers, which, it is said,
were very high at the shoulders, and “ stood up like a
dray-horse.” ‘The same witness also remembers “that a
tenant of the Gunton estate had a dairy all of these
white cows, and that they were rare milkers. And the
oxen were enormous when fat, but late in fatting, and
our best Norfolk graziers thought them slow feeders
in comparison with the Galloways.’” Nor was this an
exceptional case, for Mr. Hugh Aylmer, the well-known
Short-horn breeder, informs me that his _ father,
Mr. William Robert Aylmer, who took the Whinburgh
Park farm, three miles south of East-Dereham, in 1816,
kept there first sixty, and, when he recollects them, in
1824 or 1825, twenty or thirty of such cows, “polled,
white with black spots, which there is very little doubt
were descended from the Gunton or Blickling herd.”
“T well remember,” says Mr. Aylmer, “that the calves

* Mr. Hylton, his father’s churchwarden for forty years; he remem-
bers, besides the above, at Felmingham, near Gunton, a farmer who had
five of these cows and a bull “from Lord Suffield’s,” and they were “ very
tall, long cattle with black ears and noses, and polled.” This Mr. T. W.
Gilbert, Mr. Gilbert’s cousin, who remembers them well, completely
confirms.

U

36 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

very often came pure white, with only black ears and
muzzles, and some of the cows were marked the same.
They were considered very good dairy cows and good-
looking, and people in that part of the country, at that
time, spoke of them as a good lot.”

It seems, then, certain that the Gunton cattle were
fine large cattle, good milkers, and had for some time con-
siderable influence in Norfolk. Mr. Gilbert suspects, from
the large size of some polled steers which have been occa-
sionally exhibited there, which he cannot otherwise ac-
count for, that this influence may even yet partially exist.

Tse Bricx~tine Hatt Herp is an undoubted and
admitted off-shoot from the herd at Gunton Park.
~The fine old Elizabethan mansion of Blickling came
into the possession of the Hobarts, created, in 1746,
Earls of Buckinghamshire, in whose hands it con-
tinued till 1798, when John, the second earl, dying
without issue male, Blickling came to Caroline, one
of his three daughters, who had married in the previous
year the Hon. William Assheton Harbord, eldest son
of the first Lord Suffield and of Mary Assheton, the
heiress of Middleton. Mr. Harbord, having succeeded
his father as second lord in 1810, died without issue
in 1821; but his widow retained Blickling, her own
\ereditary property, till her death in 1850, when it
reverted to the grandson of her sister Henrietta, Mar-
chioness of Lothian, the eighth marquis of that name.
His widow, Constance, Marchioness of Lothian, is the
present owner. Her ladyship has given me every
assistance, and has allowed the Rev. George Gilbert,
of Claxton, near Norwich, to inspect and report upon
the herd in my stead.

ORIGIN OF THE BLICKLING HERD. 807

There can be no doubt that the Blickling white
cattle were introduced from Gunton; the Dowager
Lady Suffield, Lord Suffield, his brother the Hon. and
Rey. John Harbord, Mr. R. W. Parmeter of Ayls-
ham (for many years Clerk of the Peace for Norfolk,
and agent for the Blickling estate), and others, all con-
firm this; while Lady Lothian has enabled me to fix
the date within a few years. They were brought to
Blickling from Gunton during the time that the heiress
of the former lived there, as Lady Caroline Harbord,
with her husband, prior to his succeeding, at his father’s
death, to the peerage: and that was from 1793 till 1810.
Mr. Parmeter says, in a letter to me, dated November
Ath, 1874 :—‘ Lady Lothian tells me she remembers to
have read in a letter from Lady Suffield, when Lady
Caroline Harbord, to a friend, that they were ‘rearing
some of the favourite Gunton calves for Blickling.’”
Mr. Parmeter, now an elderly man, adds :—“ As long as
I can carry back my knowledge of Blickling, the white
cows with black noses and ears were an object of notice
there.” The Middleton white cattle, therefore, acclima-
tised at Gunton, were introduced to Blickling during the
few concluding years of the last century, or at the very
commencement of the present one. ‘They have always
been much valued by its proprietors, but were unfortu-
nately nearly destroyed a few years since by the rinder-
pest, from which they are by degrees recovering. But
I leave Mr. Gilbert to make his own report.

“So many of the questions put to me by Mr. Storer
had reference to the hair of the white polled cattle
which survive at Blickling Hall, that it seemed desir-
able to defer the examination of these until their winter
coats should be grown. The herd must at any time

U 2

308 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

have much to repay a visitor; but it can never have
recalled the traditions involved in its history better
than when seen, in late autumn, roaming among the
deer under the noble trees which surround the lake in
the park of the Marchioness of Lothian. It is a cir-
cumstance to be deplored that the death, a few years
since, of the bailiff who had been charged with the care
of the herd for a long period, should have put an end to
any hope of obtaining much local information respecting
it. The estate agent, Mr. Wells, the dairy manager,
and the herdsman, were very kind in rendering assist-
ance; but none of them had held their posts very long ;
my chief object, therefore, must be to report what I
saw on November 10th, 1875.

“There are now at Blickling thirteen full-grown
cows and one bull, six maiden heifers, two yearling
steers, and one heifer-calf. The weanlings of 1874
and early in 1875 seem to have been mostly got rid of,
either because their markings were not true or because
they were principally males. No cattle are ever fatted ;
the cows do not suckle their calves, but are milked for the
use of the family. They live as their comrades, the fal-
low deer, live; and are as free and as picturesque as they.

“The herd has not been breeding well recently, and
the sire in use 1s not a success. The last bull seems to
have been far more impressive; but he became dan-
gerous, and had to be slaughtered in 1874. Not many
of the cows have the appearance of being extraordinary
milkers ; but it is right to add that the manager of the
dairy says that previously to the destruction of the
greater part of the herd by the cattle-plague the cows
were not merely much finer animals, but also yielded
cream far superior to any which has been obtained since.

DESCRIPTION OF THE HERD. 309

It is necessary to keep this rinderpest slaughter in mind,
because it is through this mishap that the herd wears
the appearance it now does. Not more than three or
four, and these principally calves, seem to have survived.
The number required for the dairy was made up sub-
sequently by re-purchasing cows which had been sold or
given away in the neighbourhood ; the principal contri-
bution having been three or four females, of all ages,
from Mr. Cator’s kindred herd at Woodbastwick Hall :
of which more hereafter. Going among the older cattle,
I found twelve cows and the bull grazing apart from the
maiden heifers, and two steers. At first sight they
seemed alike. The cows are swan-white, without a
yellow tinge, and, even in dreary November, looked
as clean in their coats as if in May. When seen closely,
two or three variations from the original type re-
vealed themselves ; there have evidently been, in some
of them, crosses with the local polled breed; and also (in
the case of the Woodbastwick cows) with a Short-horn
sire. Perhaps the presence of these undoubtedly cross-
bred animals makes the peculiarities of those which
descend from the surviving females of the original sort
more conspicuous. These peculiarities were a singularly
wide loin and long hind quarter for cattle of their size:
the cows not being now above the average of the Gallo-
ways, and below that of the Aberdeens: yet they are
longer in their frames than either, and upon as short a
leg. They have very neatly laid shoulders, and, in the
case of the Woodbastwick cow and the bull, very deep
fore quarters. The head is not Galloway-shaped, but
longer ; nor are the ears so much feathered. The skin
of those cows which allowed me to touch them was
good, so far as suppleness is concerned.

310 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

“There was a great difference in the coats of
different animals in the herd. Some of the younger
cows and two-year-old heifers, which are the produce
of the slaughtered bull (which is said to have been out
of an original cow, in calf at the time of the plague),
have shaggy coats of long hair, especially about the neck
and chine. These, too, have the black colour of the ears,
muzzles, and circles round the eyes more conspicuously
developed. Not one had a black tip to its tail; nor
could it be ascertained that any such occurrence had
ever been noticed, nor that a calf with horns had ever
appeared. Some, but not all, of the cows showed a
yellowness of the skin round the setting on of the
tail; and one or two had black spots on the bare
places adjoming thereto; while all the truest bred
had black hoofs. One of the maiden heifers had
black spots (about as big as a penny) in large numbers
on her neck, and on her sides as far as the foremost
ribs; and all these young members of the herd had
black ears, muzzles, and eyes, the pupil of the latter
beig also black. This was not the case to the same
extent among the cows; two of these had white
ears, and more than two had no circles at all round
the eyes; one or two had black tips to the teats, the
rest of the udder being white. Those which seemed
to have acquired a cross with the Norfolk or Suffolk
polled race had the udder more largely developed, but
were narrower framed, and shorter too. ‘Those which
had the most characteristic markings had smaller udders
and less apparent tendency to prolonged milking. It
has been said that previously to the rinderpest the
eream given was higher-coloured and richer. Yellow-
skinned cows generally do yield high-coloured cream ;

DESCRIPTION OF THE CATTLE. 511

and these were not now in the majority. No cow or
heifer had black on the fetlock. The bull was a long
and really deep fore-quartered animal, with abundant
hair, but no marked development of mane. It was
believed, however, that he was out of one of the Wood-
bastwick cows, which are plainly crossed with the
Short-horn; and his appearance quite confirmed the
suggestion ; he was a large animal. The portrait (given
previously) of Lord Suffield’s bull corresponded exactly
with those of the cows now at Blickling, which are
believed to be truest bred; and I may add that these
were reproductions in all points of the old cow, stated
by me to have existed forty years ago at Chedgrave,
which was derived from the Brooke House stock. The
heifer now at Blickling, which has black spots on her
neck and sides, is a fac-simile of one of that old cow’s
grand-daughters. It can only be added that the cows
now at Blickling are quite as gentle and tame as ordi-
nary cattle which have not been made pets of. They
are very interesting and picturesque ; but not now above
the average of ordinary polled stock in size, substance,
or propensity to fatten. They were in good store con-
dition, and nothing more; still, the presence of the deer
and the number of large trees must be taken into
account.”

It should also, I think, be remembered that many
parts of the Eastern Counties, and especially the north-
eastern part of Norfolk, are ill adapted for permanent
pasture, the grass being sparse and poor to such an
extent that, except in connexion with the residences of
noblemen and gentlemen there, the land is scarcely ever
kept permanently in grass; and even in a park like
Holkham the quantity so kept is comparatively small.

312 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Towards Blickling the character of the grass-land im-
proves, but it is not strong, and it is also affected by
the circumstances Mr. Gilbert mentions. It is not,
therefore, to be expected that cattle kept there in a
perfectly natural manner, as these white cattle are,
should develop their full capabilities to the extent
they would under more favourable circumstances. Any
other remarks on Mr. Gilbert’s admirable report I
defer until I have considered the history of some other
Norfolk white herds, which, like this, sprang from
Gunton.

Tue Woopsastwick Herp was also most certainly
derived from the one at Gunton. It was kept by
the late Mr. Albemarle Cator, at his residence, Wood-
bastwick Hall, some eight miles to the north-east of
Norwich. like the Gunton herd, from which they
sprang, these cattle were used for domestic purposes,
and they have continued to the present time, but not
in their original purity. They are now the property of
the present Mr. Albemarle Cator, son and heir of their
former possessor of the same name. It appears from
the statement of Mr. Timothy Coleman, before alluded
to, who first lived at Antingham, close to Gunton, and
was subsequently a tenant of Mr. Cator’s, and who,
therefore, knew both herds well, that, “about the year
1840,” Edward Vernon, fourth Lord Suffield, had a sale
of some of his white polled cattle, and “one or two”
were purchased for Mr. Cator. This the old herdsman,
who has been at Woodbastwick more than thirty-six
years, confirms. Soon after his arrival one cow came,
and he well remembers her. “She had black spots
round the muzzle,” and he believes “the ears and the

THE WOODBASTWICK HERD. 313

circles round the eyes were dark brown. She was in
calf when she came, and produced a bull, which was
retained; the dam remained barren for more than a
year, and her second calf at Woodbastwick, a heifer,
was by her first.” So this herd originated. Mrs. Cator
the widow, the present Mr. Albemarle Cator, and the
Rev. William Cator the son, and Mr. William Birkbeck
the son-in-law of the late proprietor, all assert that these
eattle first came from Gunton. And this is further
confirmed by the circumstance that at Blickling they
were considered to be of kindred origin, and were
strengthened and increased by mutual exchange of
calves. At Woodbastwick red-eared calves were pre-
ferred, at Blickling black-eared ones; and as we have
seen that at Gunton there were those having ears of
either colour, the same was the case also sometimes in
both of the above herds descended from that source.
An exchange of calves was therefore arranged. Mrs.
Cator, widow of the original owner of the Woodbast-
wick herd, writes thus :—‘‘I can quite recollect an ex-
change of calves between ours and the Blickling herd ;
and, as well as I remember, there was a sort of compact
between my husband and the old steward at Blickling,
sanctioned by Lord Lothian, that when they had a
red-eared white calf they were to give us the refusal
of it, and that we in turn were to do the same when
we had a dlack-eared one.” ‘This is quite confirmed in
a letter to me from Mr. Parmeter, of Aylsham, who
has been for a great number of years agent of the
Blickling estate. He says:—‘‘A gentleman in this
county, Albemarle Cator, Usq., of Woodbastwick, Nor-
wich, had cattle of almost the same character. He
and the steward for the time being of Lady Suffield

314 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

and Lord Lothian used to exchange calves, according
to sex, with satisfaction on both sides.” ‘To this ex-
change it was probably owing that the Woodbastwick
herd increased as it did; for it hardly could have got
on so well as it did had it been wholly confined to the
descendants of the one cow from Gunton; and Mr.
William Wigg, for many years bailiff at Woodbastwick,
in a letter to me, also mentions how they “used to
change” calves with Blickling. He also tells me that
“now and then there was one with ears white,’ and
that “the bulls were large, and would fat up to a great
weight, and had large manes.”’

Such the Woodbastwick cattle were till 1840, or
somewhat later. For twenty years or thereabouts they
seem to have been kept quite pure; then the late Mr.
Cator, dissatisfied with some of them coming with white
ears, used a Short-horn bull. The Rev. George Gilbert,
who visited them for me in November, 1875, will best
report what has since taken place, and their present
appearance. He says :—

“ At least as far back as 1864 a well-bred Short-horn
bull was in use for two years; he was succeeded by a
polled son of his from one of the best-marked cows, and
this again by another bull bred in the herd. But, during
the past three seasons, the sire in use has been another
white pedigree Short-horn bull; and the calves by him,
in 1874 and 1875, are better marked and more like the
Blickling cattle (substituting red for black) than were
the older cows. Among these last, greater divergence
occurs than was to be seen at Blickling ; some had large
red patches on the neck and fore quarters; almost all
had flesh-coloured noses; not above two or three had
circlets round the eyes. One very old cow was certainly

CHARACTER OF THE HERD. 315

by a red-polled Norfolk bul—the result of an accidental
alliance: her form was very different to that of the rest,
and her calves were more coloured ; but from the others
(even by the present sire) the calves were pure white
with red markings; one or two having also black noses,
with brownish-red hair adjomimg. I saw no white
animal which had horns, though two or three coloured
ones had. There were in front of the Hall several year-
ling and two-year-old steers grazing. These had, to a
noticeable extent, long hair on the frontlet, on the ridge
of the neck, and on the fore quarters ; all the herd had
abundance of hair, and I should quite believe that old
bulls would show a mane. ‘The steers were big of their
age, and it was said that they fattened well, weighed
well, and contented the butcher; but there was not
here, any more than at Blickling, any indication of the
extraordinary size which is said to have once belonged
to this breed. Their tails are invariably white, their
hoofs light-coloured, and their fetlocks white; their
skins had more substance, combined with suppleness,
than any of the polled Norfolks or Suffolks possess.
The cows are as tame as ordinary cattle, breed regularly,
and seem quite up to the average as milkers; they are
striking-looking when seen in the pasture in a group, or
when examined separately. It is plain that, in spite of
loose breeding, there is a perpetual struggle at Wood-
bastwick to reproduce the original type ; and this proves
how much more firmly fixed is this in the blood than is
that of any of the recently introduced crosses. When
two animals, bred in the herd, are coupled together, the
produce is white polled, with red ears and muzzles. It
would seem, therefore, to be possible to bring out, by
careful matching, even in the whole herd, the character

316 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

which appears to be for ever endeavouring to re-assert
itself.” ;

There is one point to which I wish particularly to
call attention. After Mr. Gilbert had most carefully
examined the Blickling and the Woodbastwick herds,
there seems to have been no point which struck him
more forcibly, or upon which, in his letters to me, he
insisted more strongly, than the essential difference
between these white polled cattle and the hornless
varieties of the Eastern Counties or of Scotland. He
remarks :—“ It is impossible not to notice that the white
polled cattle both at Blickling and Woodbastwick are
quite distinct from the Norfolk and the Suffolk; being
longer, of more tubular frame, with better shoulders,
deeper fore quarters, and very different hair. They are
as distinct from the local polled variety as is possible.”
And again :—‘‘I am convinced these polled cattle are
wholly distinct from the ordinary polled Norfolk breed,
and from the Galloway or Aberdeen. They have dif-
ferent shape, hair, and handle; their heads, too, are
unlike, and their hind quarters longer; and, though
they are of no unusual size now at Blickling or Wood-
bastwick, there are indications that the breed was the
largest of polled varieties, and had a long tubular frame
on short legs.” In this opinion I cordially concur ; for
it should be remembered that no comparison can be
made between Britain’s ancient white polled race as it
exists to-day—neglected, worn out, degenerated by
inter-breeding, for whom no man cares—and the
pampered ox of Norfolk or Aberdeen at the Smithfield
Show, carefully cultivated for successive generations,
and forced from his very birth. But go back to the
beginning of the century, and compare the little Gallo-

THH KERRISON WHITE CATTLE. 317

way, Angus, or Norfolk cow, as they were then, with the
even then deteriorating polled white cattle of Gisburne,
Somerford, and Gunton; and no one who has fairly
studied the subject can, I think, doubt that Mr. Gilbert's
conclusion is the true one, and that the ancient white
polled breed “was the largest of polled varieties.”

There were several other herds of white polled cattle
in Norfolk, which may or may not have been derived
from Gunton, as the origin of them cannot be exactly
ascertained ; and, curiously enough, some cows of one
strain belonged to Mr. Gilbert’s mother, and are well
remembered by him. The parent herd was kept at
Brooke House, between the rivers Yare and Waveney, in
the south-eastern corner of Norfolk, late in the last or
early in the present century, by Sir Roger Kerrison. It
is now the property of Viscount Canterbury. These
white cattle, which were used as dairy cows, were
once highly valued, and carefully kept as heir-looms in
the Kerrison family ; and Sir Roger gave some of them
to his sister, the wife of Freeman Denny, Esq., of
Bergh-Apton. Mr. Gilbert’s mother was the daughter
of this lady, and the niece of Sir Roger; and when
she married (about the year 1812) and settled with her
husband at Chedgrave Manor House, in the same neigh-
bourhood, she took with her two of these cows—“ white,
with black ears.” For some time after this the Chedgrave
cows were regularly sent to the Brooke House bull for
service, as the Bergh-Apton cows had been long pre-
viously. They were called “the old-fashioned sort” and
“old Madam’s cows,” in allusion to Mrs. Denny, from
whom they came. As Mr. Gilbert’s father did not him-
self keep a bull, when Brooke House was sold and the

318 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

herd dispersed (about 1820), these cows were put to
any bull which happened to be at hand, many of these
being horned; yet, says Mr. Gilbert, ‘they continued
to breed true to pattern, whatever bulls might be em-
ployed, through a long series of years.” As he was
one of the youngest of a large family, Mr. Gilbert first
recollects one of these white cows in 1834 or 1835.
“She was polled, with black ears and muzzle, and had
always calves like herself; except that in one or two
cases these calves had reddish-brown instead of black
ears and muzzles. For nearly thirty years,” says he,
“T can recall that old cow’s descendants, which, lke
her immediate offspring, almost invariably ‘took after’
herself. At intervals, as time wore on, a few black
spots were to be found on the neck, near the eye, and
about the muzzle of some; and eventually some came
with horns; yet almost at the last of my seeing that
stock—that is, nearly thirty years after I first knew
them—a white polled calf with black ears, and of the
original type, was born to a pedigree Short-horn bull
from her great-great-great-grand-daughter. I also
recollect that the old white cow’s bull-calves, if reared
and steered—which occasionally happened—grew very
fast, and became unusually tall. I remember, too, a
neighbour—who was born in the neighbourhood of
Blickling, at the end of the last century—telling me that
the white cattle there, when he was a boy, ‘ were rare
big uns; taller than I am at the withers;’ yet he was
a man of full average stature. ‘There are also traditions
of a similar breed of white polled cattle in the Down-
ham district. Occasionally, even now, polled steers of
gigantic stature are to be found: I saw one, in 1877,
which certainly stood six feet high.”

INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC RACES. 319

It is quite possible that these Kerrison white cattle
may have come from Gunton towards the close of the
last century, as those at Blickling did at about the same
time; but Mr. Gilbert has pointed out to me that they
may possibly have been derived from another source.
It appears, from Blomefield’s “ History of Norfolk,” that
at Seething (adjoining Brooke) was a monastery of the
Premonstratensian Order, which enjoyed the privilege of
keeping a bull free to roam at will throughout certain
manors. These included Brooke and Kirstead, in both
of which parishes Sir Roger Kerrison’s ancestors had
long lived; and his cattle may have been derived from
this monastic origin. Whichever was the case, the
Kerrison cattle were undoubtedly of the same breed as
the other polled white English races, and had a near
relationship to the other Norfolk herds * whose descent
has been historically traced for centuries. The whole
chapter forms a capital conclusion to the history of the
British wild herds ; for it demonstrates, by the clearest
evidence, how strong has been the influence of the wild
forest breed upon our domestic cattle; how wonderfully
persistent is the type; and how it reproduces itself
under the most unlikely circumstances—often, perhaps,
when its very existence is altogether unsuspected.

* Mr. Gilbert remarked to me what a striking resemblance the picture

of Lord Suffield’s bull bore to his mother’s cattle as he remembered them
when a boy.

CHAPTER XVI.

Extinct Scottish Herds—The Cumbernauld Herd-—History of the Cumbernauld
Estate—Historical and Heraldic Notices of the Cattle—Their Extinction—
The Drumlanrig Herd—Notices of the Cattle, and its Extinction—The
Auchencruive Herd—The Ardrossan Herd—Introduced about 1750—Aban-
doned in 1820—Tradition that the Cattle were originally horned—Removal
of the last Specimens to Duchal, and disappearance there.

In turning our attention to the more recent descendants

of Scotland’s ancient mountain bull, it may be con-

venient to consider first the herds now extinct; and

Cumbernauld asserts its claim to primary notice. It is

centrally situated, in the heart of Southern Scotland, the

very wmbilicus terre, nearly equi-distant from Stirling
and from Hamilton, and not far from either—being
only about thirteen miles from the former, and a little
more from the latter. It thus connects North and
South ; the wild bull of the old Caledonian Forest north
of Stirlmg with the Hamilton wild cattle, and with
those which inhabited, as described by Scott, the con-
tinuous mountain ranges and the innumerable forests
which formerly extended from Hamilton to Chilling-
ham. Itself a considerable forest, Cumbernauld was
towards the north connected with Stirling and the
great Caledonian Wood by the large intervening Forest
of Torwood, once the hiding-place of Wallace, while
the great and extensive peat-mosses on its southern
side afforded to wild animals an opportunity of passing
to the woods formerly around Hamilton and the

THE LAST REALLY FOREST HERD. 321

country beyond it. The wild bull of the North had,
therefore, anciently free access to the whole of Southern
Scotland, and to the mountains, wastes, and forests of
Northern England also.

In another respect the Cumbernauld herd is remark-
able. It is the connecting link between history and
tradition, and firmly unites the two together. Boethius
and Leslie combine in declaring that this was one of the
few places where the Scottish wild bull, said by tradition
to have been formerly so common, still remained in their
days—an undoubted evidence of his previous existence.
Boethius says that Cumbernauld was the only place in
Scotland where the wild bull yet survived; but Leslie
says that it was still kept in the royal Forest of Stirling,
in which Kincardine was included. This last statement
is the more probable, for the near contiguity of the
Forests of Stirling and Cumbernauld would much facili-
tate the keeping up of both herds, and enable the kings
of Scotland to extend their hunting. It seems likely,
however, that the royal herd at Stirling succumbed
under the constant aggressions made upon it during
the state of anarchy which prevailed after the im-
prisonment of Queen Mary in England; for the one
at Cumbernauld suffered then severely from the same
cause, though it continued in a declining state for some
time after—the surviving relic of the Scottish Urus as
he was when free and unconfined. Cumbernauld, and
Stirling in a less degree, present the last instances in
Great Britain of the ancient forest breed still continuing
as wild denizens of an ancient wild forest; elsewhere I
believe the wild cattle had been universally enclosed in
parks. Still, im the rather limited space of forest which
they occupied here and at Stirling, they could scarcely

Vv

322 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GRHAT BRITAIN.

have been preserved so long without the aid of man.
The kings of Scotland, no doubt, protected this royal
game, and, in connexion with the lords of Cumbernauld,
kept up for a long time the breed in a state compara-
tively free.

The history of Cumbernauld, its castle, its forest, and
its wild cattle, is closely associated with the history of
Scotland ;* they anciently belonged to the great but
unpopular family of Comyn. When the head of that
house, John, the Red Comyn, fell wounded by the dagger
of Bruce in a sudden quarrel at the steps of the altar
in the Church of the Minorite Friars at Dumfries, on the
10th of February, 1306, Kirkpatrick, it is well known,
went in and despatched the victim with the well-known
words “‘ I make siccar”’ (surer). It was reserved, how-
ever, to Sir Robert Fleming, another distinguished chief
and adherent of the Bruce, to decapitate the Comyn,
and to exhibit the head with the exclamation, “ Let the
deed shaw.” t For this and other exploits King Robert
transferred to Sir Robert the barony of Leny, which had
belonged to the Comyns; and from this time Cumber-
nauld Castle became the residence of the Flemings, or
Fleemings, as their name is variously written. In
course of time Sir Robert Fleming, a member of the
family, was created a peer by the title of Lord Fleming ;
and in 1606, John, sixth Lord Fleming, was created
Karl of Wigton, a title which ended with Charles,
seventh earl, who died unmarried February 10th, 1747.
By the marriage of his niece, the Lady Clementina

* For much assistance with regard to Cumbernauld, I am indebted to
the Rev. Dr. T. C. Waddell, of that place.

+ These two expressions have ever since been the several mottoes of
the houses of Kirkpatrick and Fleming.

THE CUMBERNAULD FOREST. 323

(daughter of the sixth earl), with Charles, tenth Lord
Elphinstone, the estates were carried into that family ;
and they have since become, in right of his mother, the
property of the Hon. Cornwallis Fleeming, the eldest
son of Viscount Hawarden. Unfortunately the devoted
loyalty in every age, as history clearly shows, of the
Flemings to the House of Stuart, seriously impaired
from time to time the estate of Cumbernauld, and at
last necessitated its sale. The present owner is Mr.
John William Burns, of Kilmahew Castle, Cardross,
Dumbarton.

The Castle of Cumbernauld, now destroyed, was a
place of much importance; the undoubted antiquity of
its military works, which yet remain, makes it evident
that it was of great strength ages since. Its turrets
frowned from the summit of the glen—the only part of
the property where timber to any extent still remains—
commanding its two passes to the west and north, and
in close approximation to the dun or pristine fortifi-
cation which protected it on three sides of the steep,
while a fourth was made inaccessible by a fosse of water.
In those days miles of dense forest stretched around,
tenanted by herds of wild cattle, and by deer and
various wild animals. This forest extended northward
and eastward to the rivers Bonny, Kelvin, and Carron ;
westward many miles; and southward, in one direction,
to the river Avon, in another to the great moss which
extended from Shotts, east of Hamilton, to the baronies
which adjoined the royal lands of Linlithgow. All is
now disafforested, and there are three farms on the
curtailed estate of Cumbernauld which bear the names
of Hast, Middle, and West Forest respectively. The
civil war in the time of Charles I. seems to have

wee

324 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

materially injured both the estate and the castle. The
latter was subsequently pulled down, and the present
Mansion House substituted for it. This was built by
John, sixth Earl of Wigton. It was begun, as a date
affixed to a lintel shows, in 1731, and completed shortly
before his death, in 1744.

I wish I were able to describe to my readers the
Cumbernauld wild cattle. That, however, is impossible,
and I must content myself with briefly sketching their
history—the only description of them which remains
being the striking account of the Scottish wild bull given
by Boethius and Leshe as it existed several hundreds
of years since, and with which, as has been already seen,
those writers identify the cattle of Cumbernauld. We
shall see, from what follows, that their statements have
been confirmed. In the time of James IV. the royal
herd at Stirling still remained, and those of the Lords
Fleming of Cumbernauld were still hunted by the
king. In Nisbet’s ‘System of Heraldry” * we have
the following statement :—

“The name of Stark, with us, has its rise from just
such another action as Turnbull’s, but later: by saving
James IV. from a bull in the Forest of Cumbernauld, by
one of the name of Muirhead, who, for his strength was
ealled Stark; and to show his descent from Muirhead
he carries the armorial figures of Muirhead with a bull’s
head,—viz., azure, a chevron between three acorns in
chief or, for Muirhead, and a bull’s head erased in base
of the second. The same is carried by John Stark, of
Kallermont ; and for crest, a bull’s head erased argent,
distillmg drops of blood proper. Motto :—Fortiorum
fortia facta.”—“ N.R.”

* Vol. i, p. 333.

CREST OF THE STARK FAMILY. 320

“N.R.” is his authority—the “New Register,”
commenced in 1672, and in the Lyon Office. But the
crest of Stark of Killermont is there given as—‘ Ane
dexter hand holding be the horne a bull’s head erased
argent and distilling drops of blood proper,” arms and
motto as above.* It will be observed that, though m
the addition to the arms of Muirhead—subsequently
Stark—the bull’s head is of an heraldic tint, or, in order
to correspond with the other charges on the shield, the
chevron and the three acorns, yet the crest, where no
such necessity existed, is argent—the colour of the white
wild bull; and further that, in allusion to the circum-
stances under which it was assumed, it is distinguished
as “distilling drops of blood.” There are, I under-
stand, families of the name of Stark still in Scotland
who claim descent from the original actor, and bear his
arms and crest.

The next historical notice we have of the Cumber-
nauld wild cattle was in the time of Mary, Queen of
Scots, grand-daughter of James IV. Her long minority,
the violent religious changes, and her many misfortunes
brought troublous times to Scotland. The Lord Flem-
ing of those days was a strong supporter of the queen,
and suffered much in her cause. ‘The king’s party got
the upper hand, and Lord Fleming’s wild bulls were
considered fair game. It is probable that during this
period of anarchy and confusion the royal herd at
Stirling received a blow from which it never recovered,
for no notice of it has been found subsequent to the

* This corrected description of the crest of Stark of Killermont was
obtained for me from the Lyon Office itself by Mr. Turnbull, of Abbey
St. Bathan’s. The Stark crest and arms are among the first in the ‘“ New
Register,” 1672.

326 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

time of Leslie; and that of Cumbernauld was at the
same time seriously trespassed upon. It appears that
it is stated in a MS. in the Fleming archives that the
devastations of the Regent Murray on “My Lord
Fleming’s bourdis”’ were such “that no heart can think
thereon but the same must be dolorous.” Murray was
succeeded as Regent by the Earl of Lennox; and there
is in the Public Record Office in London a State Paper,
which I have examined, containing a series of fourteen
charges brought against him by the English Court for
breach of faith. The date of this document is either
November 28th or early in December, 1570; and the
heading is as follows * :—

“A brefe note of the thinges done be th’erle of
Lennox and his adherentes contrar to their promises
made to the erle of Sussex livetenant to the Q Mate of
Ingland by the quilk they have violated and broken the
abstinence subscrived be the said erle of Lennox which
was promised to be keped bona fide.”

The charges brought against the earl were of
various kinds, such as summoning a Parliament, levying
taxes, calling the Queen of Scots’ subjects to appear
before him, and on their refusal seizing their goods and
harrying their lands, &. The following was one of
them :— |

“ And amonges others greite enormyties perpetrated
be th’ erles men of werre they have slayne and destroyed
the dere in John Fleming’s forest of Cummernald and
the white kye and bulles of the saide forest to the greit
destruction of police and hinder of the common wele
for that kinde of kye and bulles has bene thir mony

* State Papers, Public Record Office: Mary Queen of Scots, vol. v.,
No. 92.

THE LAST HISTORICAL NOTICE. 327

yeres in the said forest and the like was not mayn-
teyned in any other parte of this Ile of Albion as 1s
well knowen.”

The last statement in this charge shows that Queen
Elizabeth’s ministers were better versed in politics than
in natural history: for assuredly many wild herds were
then in existence. Yet as wild forest animals the Cum-
bernauld “ white kye and bulles”’ were, as we have seen,
unique, and of sufficient celebrity to be noticed in so im-
portant a State Paper.

After this they have no history. ‘Thinned down, as
we have seen, in these convulsions, and also, it is said,
during the civil wars of the next century, they gradually
became extinct, though the exact time it is impossible
to fix. In the time of Charles IJ., William, Earl of
Wigton, kept a Household Book, a venerable-looking
tome, with iron clasps, still preserved, in which is kept
a regular entry of the sheep and cattle taken from the
forest for the use of the family. These may have been
remains of the old breed in a greater or less state of
purity ; the tradition of the oldest, and the belief of the
best-informed persons about the place being, that this
ancient race came to an end about the time of the build-
ing of the new mansion-house of Cumbernauld—that
is, about a hundred and forty years since.

Cumbernauld also possessed in comparatively modern
times a singular natural curiosity : a breed of bald-faced
stags. Captain Spiers, of Culcreuch, informs me that,
being very intimate with the family in the time of the
Hon. Admiral Fleming, grandfather of the late owner,
he observed in the house at Cumbernauld an old hunt-
ing picture, showing] the stag at bay, and having a
very decidedly bald face. Captain Spiers made some

328 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

depreciatory remarks; but the admiral told him “he
was wrong; for such a breed, though then extinct, had
formerly existed at Cumbernauld.”

The next Scottish herd I shall notice is the Drum-
LANRIG Herp, the property of that branch of the
house of Douglas which enjoyed successively the titles
of Earls, Marquises, and Dukes of Queensberry. The
Duke of Buccleuch, as heir general, is Duke of Queens-
berry, and possesses Drumlanrig; the heir male is the
marquis of the same name. Unfortunately, this herd
has been long extinct, so that little is now known re-
specting it. Bewick only slightly mentions it, saying
“the breed which was at Drumlanrig in Scotland had
also black ears.””> Mr. Hindmarsh, who derived his in-
formation from the clergyman of the place, writing in
1838, describes them as being “‘all white, with the ex-
ception of the ears and muzzle (which were black), and
without manes. They went under the appellation of
the wild Caledonian cattle. They were driven away
about 1780.” Mr. William Dickinson, to whom I have
already alluded, an able authority, who was born in the
last Sano, in his paper “ On the Farming of Cumber-
land,” published in 1852, identifies the Drumlanng
cattle with ‘the Caledonian Forest wild cattle,’ and as
having been in colour “a dun, or rather, flea-bitten
white, having black muzzles and ear-tips, with spotted
legs.” He also mentions that “two cows and a bull”
of this breed ‘“ were living in 1821, but the bull and
‘one of the cows died from the effects of removal in
that year.” The “ flea-bitten white” and the “ spotted
legs,” which are found also in so many other wild
herds, are eminently suggestive; while the last state-

THE AUCHENCRUIVE HERD. 329

ment would lead us to conjecture that the Drumlanrig
herd was not totally destroyed quite so early as has
been supposed. ‘To a certain extent this is confirmed
by Pennant, who saw them himself.

Drumlanrig Castle, in Dumfriesshire, is situated in
the valley of Nithsdale, intermediate between Hamilton
and the Solway Firth, but somewhat nearer to the latter,
and at the western foot of those wild hills which, ex-
tending throughout Southern Scotland, were the ancient
haunts of the Scottish mountain bull. One of their
highest points, Queensberry Hill, is near; and the
mountains which Scott describes in “Castle Dangerous”
as the shelter and protection of the wild bull are not
far off.

Tue AvucHENcruIvE Herp of wild cattle was also, in
all likelihood, one of some antiquity. It belonged to the
Lords Cathcart, and was sold in 1763, together with the
estate, by Charles, ninth baron, to Mr. Richard Oswald,
in the hands of whose descendants the estate still con-
tinues, but the wild cattle have been long destroyed.
Auchencruive, in the parish of St. Quivox, and on the
water of Ayr, is in the county, and not far from the town,
of that name. The following letter was written, at the
request of Mr. Campbell, of the Bank at Ayr, who was
for many years factor on the Auchencruive estate, to Mr.
Oswald Mitchell, of Ardrossan, a relative of the Auchen-
eruive family, and forwarded to me for inspection :—

“Royal Bank of Scotland, Ayr,
“5th of April, 1876.
“My pEAR Srr,—Mr. Campbell has asked me to reply to your
letter to him of yesterday’s date. His information is to this effect.
When the estate of Auchencruive was acquired in 1763 from Lord

300 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Cathcart, by purchase, by Richard Oswald (the first), it had on the
opposite side of the ‘river to the house, on a grassy hill, called ‘the
Peel Hill, a herd of white wild cattle. These being found useless
and troublesome, were got rid of within a few years, and certainly
during the lifetime of the first Laird, who died in 1784. ‘The Peel
Hill’ was bounded on the side next the house by the river, which
partly encircled it ; and the landward part was fenced.

“Yours very truly,
“ Hue Cowan.”

Except that it is said they were very savage, this is
all the information I can obtain about the Auchencruive
cattle. Their origin is quite unknown. The Lord
Cathcart who sold the property married a grand-daughter
of the Duke of Hamilton, but only ten years before he
sold it, so that it is very improbable that they came
from Hamilton. From two hundred and fifty to three
hundred years before that, his ancestor John, second
Jiord Cathcart (whose eldest son by a former marriage
fell at Flodden in 1518), married as his second wife a
daughter of the house of Douglas of Drumlanrig. The
wild cattle of Auchencruive may have come from that
place; or they may have been a still more ancient
possession of the family of Cathcart.

Tue ArprossaNn Herp of wild cattle comes next;
and, like those of Hamilton and Auchencruive, it was
mentioned by Sir John Sinclair in 1814 as one of the
then few remaining examples of Caledonia’s ancient
breed. It survived till about 1820.

The ruins of Ardrossan Castle are beautifully
situated on the west coast of Southern Scotland, and in
the county of Ayr. It has belonged for ages, and still
belongs, to the Earls of Eglinton, who reside at their

THH ARDROSSAN HELD. 301

Castle of Helinton, some six miles distant, but, having
been destroyed in the time of Cromwell, has never since
been inhabited ; it is close to two bays of the sea at the
base of the promontory which forms the town. Con-
tiguous to the castle, but away from the town, were the
five parks enclosed by Alexander, tenth Harl of Kglin-
ton, in 1748 or 1750. They were enclosed by high and
strong stone walls, built with lime, and altogether
nearly four miles in extent. Of these, three parks,
having communication with each other, were grazed by
the wild cattle and other animals, and contained about
120 acres. The other two parks, divided from these and
from the castle by the road from Largs to Stevenston,
were devoted principally to horses. The Stanley Burn
supplied abundant water. There were no trees in any
of these parks, except a few near this burn.

Into the three parks, as before-mentioned, Lord
Kelinton introduced the Scottish wild cattle from 1748
to 1750. Where he obtained them it seems impossible
now to ascertain, but they were undoubtedly of the true
and genuine breed. It is said that he meant to try
experiments in crossing; he, however, lost his life by
violence in the year 1769. After his death the wild
- cattle were retained, but less cared for ; and on the death,
in December, 1819, of Hugh, twelfth earl, being much
diminished in numbers, the few still remaining were
sent away. Whether the tenth earl did or did not use
a cross cannot now be discovered ; but there are curious
circumstances connected with the Ardrossan catile.
They are traditionally believed to have been horned
when introduced to Ardrossan in the middle of the last
century ; they were certainly all, or very nearly all,
polled within the memory of man. It would seem to

332 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

follow, either that the tradition is incorrect, or that they
had become hornless. In other respects they seem to
have differed little from the Caledonian wild cattle, ex-
cept, perhaps, in one thing : that they seem to have been
smaller than other known examples, owing, no doubt,
to the extremely artificial manner in which they were
confined, in fields enclosed by stone walls, and without
natural shelter, the only protection they seem to have
had being some sheds. Being also only few in number
for many years—only from ten to twelve—they would in
the course of years be necessarily deteriorated by very
close inter-breeding, and this was probably the cause of
their final extinction; but to the last they were very
shy and wild. They are best described by Mr. George
Robertson, author of several works on agriculture, who
came from Granton, near Edinburgh, to be factor to
Lord Eglinton about 1814 or 1815, and remained with
him two years. In his “ Description of Cunningham
and Ayrshire,’ published in 1820, he says :—
“Nothing uncommon in the usual cattle of the
country ; but there is (or lately was) a singular species
of cattle, remarkably different from the ordinary breed
of the country, to be seen in Lord Eglinton’s park of
Ardrossan. They are altogether wild, the breed never
having been within a house or under the hands of man.
They are pure white, with the exception of the muzzle
and the inside of the ears, which are black. They have
no horns. In this respect they differ from the singular
breed of wild cattle belonging to Lord Tankerville at
Chilingham, in Northumberland, which have horns.
Though very shy, they are not so remarkably fierce as
Lord Tankerville’s ; the reason of which may be, perhaps,
that they graze in open pastures unscreened by wood,

VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE HERD. 339

with public roads on all sides, and are accustomed con-
tinually to people passing. ‘There are also other cattle
grazing along with them, with which they have no
association but no hostility: so that they are in some
degree reclaimed from the savage state. The number is
limited, not being allowed to increase beyond about a
dozen. They are thinned by shooting, which requires
some precaution to accomplish. The full-grown weigh
about thirty stones (avoirdupois) the four quarters. .The
meat is not reckoned so good as well-fed beef; they
never, indeed, are so fat. They are distinguished by
the name ‘ Caledonian.’ ”

Very similar to the independent testimony which
Bishop Leslie gives to the statements of Boethius is
that, corroborative of Mr. Robertson, given by the Rev.
Mr. Bryce, Parish Minister of Ardrossan, in the “‘ New
Statistical Account of Scotland,” published in 1837. In
this case, the one had these cattle, which he described,
under his own personal supervision; the other related, a
very few years after their extinction, particulars with
regard to the Ardrossan cattle which nearly all his adult
parishioners well remembered. His narrative so nearly
resembles that of Mr. Robertson that it is not necessary
to transcribe it; it is the less necessary as there are
many persons still living who remember them well, and
others who have heard many particulars respecting
them from people living a short time previous. These
testimonies have been collected for me through the
kindness of Mr. Hugh F. Weir, of Kirkhall, which is
only about eight hundred yards distant from the walls
of the Ardrossan parks. Huis grandfather was born at
Kirkhall in 1728, and died there in 1800; his father,
born there in 1757, died there in 1838; so that his

BBE! WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

assistance has been invaluable. Mr. Weir’s father,
“being in his younger years a good ball-shot at a
long distance, had often to go down and despatch a wild
beast which the keepers had wounded and failed to kill,
and which they dared not approach, but which he
managed to kill from the top of the walls.”

Mr. Weir was informed that these cattle were
originally horned, by Alexander Bartlemore, of Seafield,
near Ardrossan (a few from Lord Eglinton), who died
several years ago: he was a son of Bartlemore, the
favourite servant of the tenth earl. He said, ‘that
the wild cattle were introduced about 1750, and that
they were then exceedingly wild, and had horns.” And
exactly the same evidence was given by Andrew Clerk,
another old tenant on the Ardrossan estate, which he
said he had received from his wife’s father, a tenant
in the neighbourhood under the tenth earl, who
introduced the cattle.

Mr. William Coulter, a retired watchmaker, living
at Saltcoats, near at hand, remembers well the Ardrossan
Park cattle in their later days. He “thinks that they
had parts near the shoulder larger than his hand of a
darker colour than on other parts of their bodies.”
Mr. John Young, now living in Ardrossan, but formerly
coachman to Earl Hugh, the last proprietor of this herd,
says that “they were not pure white, but cream-
coloured, and wanting horns.’ Mr. James Willock,
eighty-two years of age, and residing at Saltcoats—
commonly called ‘‘ Bailie Willock,” he having been at
one time a bailie of the burgh of Ardrossan—also
remembers them well. His father took the “ Nursery
Holme,” adjoining to the Park wall on the Saltcoats
side, in 1811, and after his father’s death he carried on

VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE HERD. 330

the nursery, &c. He says: “The white cattle had no
dark spots or places on them ; they were all white,
except perhaps when they were shedding their hair:
they were then slightly darker. The cattle had liberty
in all the parks, except those above the road, in my day,
but I saw them oftenest in the twenty-two acres park,
and sometimes got upon the top of the wall to give
them a fright and see them scamper away. ‘They
were few in number. I remember old Willie Stevenson,
the herd, with the white horse on which he used to
visit them, and also his being nearly killed on one
occasion when the bull attacked him and got his head
under the horse.”

When one of these cattle was shot, the carcase was
taken in a cart to Eglinton Castle. Their savage nature
continued to the last, notwithstanding their confinement
for seventy years on bare fields enclosed by stone walls ;
indeed, the circumstance of their keeper being obliged
to approach them on horseback seems to show that they
were fiercer than the Chillmgham or Chartley cattle.
At last, in 1820, shortly after the death of Earl Hugh,
the only survivors were two cows and a bull; probably
the others had been previously slaughtered. These
three were sent by the then Karl of Eglinton to Duchal,
in Renfrewshire, as a present to Mr. Porterfield, of
Porterfield and Duchal. The latter place is from
twenty-five to thirty miles from Ardrossan, and their
removal was accomplished with much difficulty. Many
persons recollect it; and Bailie Willock, whom I have
just quoted, says:—“I remember the bull and two
cows being taken to Duchal, and the trouble there was
to get them removed from the parks. A number of
people had to be employed, and old Mr. Bartlemore was

336 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

nearly unhorsed and sent into a hedge.” Nor was this
all. Mr. Bartlemore, of Seafield, before alluded to, who
was commissioned to accompany the party who took the
cattle, told Mr. Weir’s sister that he rode behind, and
that when they came to a place where the road to
Duchal turns off the main road the bull turned on the
party, and attacked them with the greatest fury. The
risk was considerable, and it was some time before they
could get his anger allayed; but at last they managed
to arrive at Duchal. These cattle did not, it appears,
long remain there. The bull was soon after killed—most
likely on account of his ferocity—and, being preserved,
was long an ornament of the entrance-hall there.

The difficulty that was experienced in removing the
last Ardrossan wild bull from his former home reminds
one of the attacks which ‘‘ Duncraggan’s milk-white
bull” made on the Highland raiders—

“ Ah! well the gallant brute I knew!
The choicest of the prey we had,
When swept our merry-men Gallangad.
His hide was snow, his horns were dark,
His red eye glowed like fiery spark ;
So fierce, so tameless, and so fleet,
Sore did he cumber our retreat,
And kept our stoutest kernes in awe,
F’en at the pass of Beal’maha.”

The account I have given of the Ardrossan herd is
so full that I need not add more. ‘The two difficulties
which remain unsolved are—from whence they originally
came, and how they became hornless. I think that the
two statements of Bailie Willock and Mr. William
Coulter, when taken together, tend to show that in
them, as in most other wild cattle, there was a pre-

THE GENERAL CHARACTER UNMISTAKABLE. 307

disposition to increased darkness about the neck,
particularly when we take into account the great
length of time which has mtervened since they saw
them, how young the observers then were, and the
considerable distances at which they must generally
have viewed them. It seems to be universally ad-
mitted that the muzzles and the inside of the ears
were black.

W

-CHAPTER XVII.

Existing Scottish Herds of White Cattlh—The Hamilton Herd—Mr. Brown’s
Description—Differences between the Hamilton and Chillingham Cattle—
Nearly extirpated during the Cromwellian Period—Probability of their
being crossed then, and subsequently—Further Probability that they were
formerly Hornless—Now only partially so—Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell’s Ac-
count—The Athole Herd—Sold in 1834—And then divided—Lord Breadal-
bane’s Portion lost as a Pure Herd—But crossed with other Cattle—The Duke
of Buccleuch more successful—James Aitchison’s Account of the Dalkeith
Herd—Slaughtered in 1838, with sole Exception of one Bull —The Kilmory
semi-wild Herd—How formed by Sir John Orde—Last Cross in 1852—
Present State and Management of the Kilmory Herd—Mr. Chandos-Pole-
Gell’s Account of it.

I procrep to consider now those remaining herds of wild
cattle which were formerly kept in parks in Scotland.
The only one of these still existing is that in Cadzow
Park, an ancient royal chase, near to and connected
with Hamilton Palace in Lanarkshire, the seat of the
Douglas-Hamiltons, Dukes of Hamilton and Brandon,
who represent the great Douglases, Harls of Angus,
through the male line, and the Hamilton family through
the female. This herd is usually called the Hamtiron
Herp. Cadzow Park is about 200 acres in extent;
and both it and its cattle are well described in a letter
of Mr. Brown, Chamberlain to the Duke of Hamilton,
published in ‘“‘ Jesse’s Natural History.” It was, as
Sir Walter Scott pointed out, on the confines of the
great Caledonian Forest. The same great writer alludes
to the wild cattle formerly no doubt common in that

THE HAMILTON HERD. 309

neighbourhood as elsewhere in the following well-known

lines :—
“Mightiest of all the beasts of chase
That roam in woody Caledon,
Crashing the forest in his race,
The mountain bull comes thundering on.

“ Fierce, on the hunter’s quiver’d band,
He rolls his eyes of swarthy glow,
Spurns, with black hoof and horn, the sand,
And tosses high his mane of snow.” *

“The chase in which they browse” (I quote from
Mr. Brown) “was formerly a park or forest attached
to the royal chase of Cadzow, where the ancient British
kings of Strathclyde, and subsequently the kings of
Scotland, used frequently to reside and hold their
courts.” “As compared with those kept at Chilling-
ham Park, Northumberland, by Lord Tankerville, they
are larger and more robust in the general form of
their bodies, and their markings are very different.
In the Tankerville breed the colour is invariably white,
muzzle black, the whole of the inside of the ear and
about one-third the outside, from the tips downwards,
red. The horns are very fine, white, with black tips;
and the head and legs are slender and elegant. In
the Hamilton Urus the body is dun-white, the inside
of the ears, the muzzle, and the hoofs black, and
the fore part of leg, from the knee downwards, mottled
with black. The cows seldom have horns; their bodies
are thick and short; their limbs are stouter and their
heads much rounder than in the Tankerville breed.
The inside or roof of the mouth is black, or spotted
with black. The tongue is black, and generally tipped
with black. It is somewhat larger in proportion than

* “ Cadzow Castle”: Sir Walter Scott.

340 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

that of the common cow; and the high ridge on the
upper surface, near to the insertion of the tongue, is
also very prominent. It is observable that the calves
that are off the usual markings are either entirely black
or entirely white, or black and white, but never red or
brown. The beef, like that of the Tankerville breed, is
marbled and of excellent flavour; and the juice is
richer and of a lighter colour than in ordinary
butcher’s meat. The size of the smaller cows does not
exceed fifteen stones troy weight; but some of the
larger sort, especially the bulls, average from thirty-
five to forty-five stones. 5

“The universal tradition at Clydesdale is that they
have been at Cadzow from the remotest antiquity ; and
the probability is that they are a part remaining of
the establishment of our ancient British and Scottish
kings. At present they are subjects of great curiosity,
both to the inhabitants and to strangers visiting the
place. During the troubles consequent on the death of
Charles I. and the occupation of Cromwell they were
nearly extirpated; but a breed of them having been
retained for the Hamilton family by Hamilton Dalzell,
and by Lord Elphinstone at Cumbernauld, they were
subsequently restored to their ancient purity.

“Instances are recorded of their having been taken
when young and tamed, and even milked. The milk, like
that of most white cattle, 1s described as thin and watery.
The present keeper of the park at one time possessed a
cow, which he had taken when a calf in consequence of
the death of its mother ; it was gentle, and was milked
as a cow, and bred freely with the common bull.” *

* These quotations are from a “ Narrative as to White Cattle at Cadzow,”
prepared by Mr. J. Thompson, Curator, Kelvinside Museum, Glasgow.

THE HAMILTON AND CHILLINGHAM CATTLE. 341

In commenting on this statement, I may observe
that the differences of form and colour between the
_ Hamilton and the Chillingham cattle, as here pointed
out, are unquestionably correct. And it might have been
added, that in both of these respects the Hamilton
cattle—now partially hornless, and formerly said to have
been wholly so*—agree in the main with those at
Gisburne, which were ‘‘ without horns, very strong-
boned, but not high.” In the colour of their ears the
two differed ; but in another respect also they agreed.
The Hamilton “ calves that are off the usual markings”
are sometimes “ entirely white,” while at Gisburne they
were “sometimes without dark muzzles.” Bewick says
some were “ perfectly white,” except the ears.

The statements with regard to weight seem hardly
consistent with the assertion that the Hamilton cattle
are, however, “Jarger” than those at Chillingham :
unless we suppose either that the latter are not really
now so heavy as they were in the time of Bewick
and Culley, which is possible, or that previously to
slaughtering they are fed to a greater extent, or both.
But there is a strong tendency in all proprietors of
cattle to exaggerate the merits of their own; and it may
be remarked that the Duke of Hamilton’s Chamberlain
represents His Grace’s cattle as “ larger’? than those
at Chillingham. Darwin reports that they “are said
by Lord Tankerville to be inferior: ” we are not told in
what respect.

Another singular thing is the statement that the
Hamilton wild cattle were “ nearly extirpated” during
the Cromwellian period, but, being retamed for the

* Mr. Storer was at a later period quite satisfied they had been at one
time hornless.—ED.

O42 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

family by Hamilton Dalzell and Lord Elphinstone,
“they were subsequently restored to their ancient
purity.” How they went on at these two different
places during that imterregnum no one can possibly
say; nor, if they had acquired any crosses, how the
process was performed of restormg them “to their
ancient purity.” They probably did get then some
cross, and to that their continuance to the present time
is very likely owing. I am of opinion that no wild
herd, if imprisoned in a park and interbred for several
hundred years without a cross, could be in existence
now. In this case, something more than two hundred
years since, it is apparent that there was every oppor-
tunity for such a cross taking place. It is more than
questionable whether such a cross has not taken place
much more recently. Sir J. Powlett Orde, of Kilmory
House, Argyllshire, says that he is told by “Mr.
Campbell, of Stonefield, that the late Mr. Lachlan
Macneill (a very well-known judge and breeder of West
Highland cattle, and who afterwards took the name
of Campbell, and the territorial title or designation
of Saddell, in place of Dimdrishaig), that he had been
employed to get a West Highland bull with which to
eross the wild cattle at Cadzow.” Sir John Orde says
further that “he heard, very many years ago, that the
Cadzow or Hamilton cattle had all been polled, but that
a Highland bull having accidentally got mto the park,
some horned calves were produced, and that by sub-
sequent selection the herd had got horns generally.”
The truth of these statements receives strong con-
firmation from the fact that it is very rare indeed, if
not quite exceptional, among cattle for the female to be
hornless while the male is not so, though it is common

FORMERLY A POLLED HERD. B45

enough among sheep and deer. The Hamilton herd
are, I believe, the sole instance of this in the British
Islands. But there is yet further corroboration. Youatt,
in his work on “Cattle,” published nearly forty years
since, speaks of the Hamilton cattle as bemg polled.
He commences his account of “ Zhe Polled Cattle” with
these words:—‘‘ We have already stated that there
appear to be the remnants of two distinct breeds of
aboriginal cattle in the parks of Chillingham, in
Northumberland, and Chatelherault,* in Lanarkshire ;
the first are middle horns, and the second are polled.”
And in another part of his book ¢ he quotes, from Mr.
Macgillivray’s older ‘‘ Prize Essay on the Present State
of the Outer Hebrides,” the following passage :—“ 'The
most common colours” (of the Hebridean cattle) “are
black, red, brown, drandered (that is, a mixture of red
and brown, with stripes—brindled). A whitish dun
colour is also pretty frequently seen, not unlike that of
the original wild cattle of Scotland, both the horned
breed at Chillingham and the polled one at Hamilton ;
and it is remarked that in all their traditions or fables
of what are called fairy cattle this is the colour ascribed
to these animals.” It is nearly impossible to resist the
conclusion that about this time the Hamilton herd under-
went the above-mentioned change. And the absence of
horns was certainly considerable, even in the males
(which Mr. Brown does not mention), a few years
since, for James Aitchison, Sir John Orde’s grieve,
whose brother Robert was at the time, and for many
years after, forester at Hamilton and Cadzow, informs

* Cadzow is meant, called Chatelherault from the Duke of Hamilton’s

French dukedom.
+ Chap. iii, p. 71.

344. WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

me that, thirty-five years since, he saw the Hamilton
cattle, and that many of them wanted horns, and that
the oxen from that herd which were shown at the
Highland Society’s meeting at Glasgow were polled.
The following report upon the Hamilton herd is
by Mr. H. Chandos-Pole-Gell, who visited it for me on
October 3rd, 1874 :-—
. “ T went to Hamilton, and met there Mr. Lawrence
Drew, a well-known breeder of Ayrshire cattle and
Clydesdale horses, and formerly manager of the Home
Farm at Hamilton Place, under the late Duke of
Hamilton. We drove to Cadzow Park, about one and
a half miles from the town of Hamilton, a piece of the
old Caledonian Forest, and well timbered in parts with
fine old oaks of every form and size, and in various
stages of growth and decay. I counted there about
thirty animals, including one bull. They have very
straight backs, good under-line, generally fair hind
quarters, which are in good proportion to the fore
quarters. ‘They appeared to have good hair, and all
had small turn-up horns. The land at Cadzow Park
is a strong clay, and grows moderately good grass. In
winter the cattle have a large open shed (lately built),
in which they eat the coarse hay provided for them.
No other animals are pastured in the park. In a field
near the park, and of the same description, I saw fifteen
bulls and steers, along with one old cow and a young
heifer. The old bull (¢.e., the one in the park) was a
very fine beast, rather dun in colour, arising, in my
opinion, from his age. All the cattle have black hair
inside the ears, and the muzzle quite black. Their
heads are beautiful [| Mr. Pole-Gell, in speaking to me
about them, said, “‘ curiously beautiful.”—J. S. |—a broad

MR. CHANDOS-POLE-GELL’S ACCOUNT. 345

scaup hollowed under the eyes, broad muzzle, quick
dark eyes.

“T got within less than a hundred yards of them,
and, having a good glass, saw them very clearly ; they
seem about as wild as those at Chartley. When killed
they are shot. Heaviest weight of steers, forty stone ;
cows would make about thirty stone; they are only
made steers when calves. ‘The beef is hard, tasteless,
and bad-coloured, more like veal than beef. Coloured
calves seldom come; but when they appear they are
black-and-white. The old bulls had a good deal of curly
hair on the neck and fore-part of the shoulder. A//
I saw had horns. The bulls are nowadays separated
from the cows at certain seasons; but this was not the
case formerly, and then calves were born at all times of
the year. Mr. Drew thought he remembered some of
the cattle without horns.

“In 1866, the cattle-plague year, by Mr. Drew’s
advice, some of the cattle—about fourteen in number,
including one bull—were got out of the park, and taken
away to the deep glen some distance off. ‘These escaped
disease, and from them the present herd, about forty-
five animals all told, is descended. All the others, ex-
cept one old steer, died.” *

Another herd of wild cattle was kept in Scotland,
from forty to fifty years since, at Blair Athole, in the
north of Perthshire, one of the ancient Highland seats
of the Murrays, Dukes of Athole. It belonged to Lord

* The above report, [ am desired to state, is merely a résumé of ob-
servations taken on the spot, and must not be regarded as a detailed
account, This equally applies to Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell’s report on the
Kilmory herd. Both were kindly written with a view to affording Mr.
Storer information.— Hp,

O46 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

James Murray, created in 1821 Lord Glenlyon, who,
about that time, had the management of the estates,
and whose son became sixth Duke of Athole, and was
father of the present duke. These cattle were kept
in one of the parks at Blair Athole, and are known
as the Arnote Hurp. From the testimony of numerous
persons of the highest character who knew them, I
entertain no doubt that they were genuine wild cattle ;
they were “white with black poimts,”’ having the ears,
the muzzles, the orbits of the eyes, and the hoofs in a
great measure black; and they bred perfectly true.
Owing to family circumstances, the Athole herd was
sold in the year 1834. Mr. Butter, of Faskally, who is
still living and informs me that such was the case,
bought the greater part of them, which were divided
between the present Duke of Buccleuch and the late
Marquis of Breadalbane. The portion allotted to the
Marquis went to Taymouth, but they have not been
continued, as when there they ceased to breed ¢ogether,
though the cows bred with other bulls, and wee versa ;
but several cattle shown by Lord Breadalbane at one of
the Highland Society’s shows were entered as High-
land cattle (without.a white one amongst them), and
were bred from this Athole ‘stock on one side. The
circumstances prove that in-and-in breeding had been
carried too far; and though Lord Breadalbane tried at
last, as we shall subsequently see, to remedy the evil,
the attempt came too late.

The other portion of the Athole herd, purchased by
Mr. Butter, of Faskally, became the property of the
Duke of Buccleuch, and was sent to Dalkeith. For
the first two years they were tended by Mr. James
Aitchison, a most respectable and. intelligent man,

THH SMALL HERD AT DALKEITH. 347

whose family had been long in the employment of
the Dukes of Buccleuch and Marquises of Lothian,
and whose brother Robert was for many years forester
at Hamilton, in the charge of the wild cattle there,
and who has himself been, for the last thirty-eight years
(sce 1836), grieve to Sir J. Powlett Orde, of Kilmory
House, Argyllshire. From him the following informa-
tion is derived.

“The Duke of Buccleuch’s herd, which came from
Athole Forest in 1834, consisted of six cows and two
cow-calves, one bull, and five oxen. They were all
white—pure white—and they had all black muzzles ; but
the black was confined to the muzzle itself, and did not
affect the skin around it which bore hair. The orbits
of their eyes were black, and the hoofs black or striped
with black. ‘The ears were generally tipped with black,
and in many there was also more or less black inside,
but in a few the black hairs on the ears were scarce,
though in none altogether wanting. They all had:
horns, which were not very long, turned up at the
ends and very sharp, and all their horns had black
points.* They differed much from well-bred Highland
cattle, but bore some resemblance to more ordinary
ones, being short-legged, straight-backed, and having
long silky hair. But, like all wild cattle, they had a
strong family likeness, and were all rather light in their
hind quarters. The Athole bull was by no means wild
or unmanageable, and had a double thin upright mane.
A son of his, who afterwards went to Sir John Orde’s,
resembled him in these respects ; and so did another bull

* Some of them had dark specks in the skin, which, however, grew
white hairs; sometimes, however, the calves showed black hairs mixed
with the white when new-born and wet, but these did not show afterwards.

348 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

afterwards obtained from Lord Breadalbane’s portion of
the Athole herd. The mane is lost with age.”

James Aitchison further says “that the cows which
came to the Duke of Buccleuch’s were watched by him
at their calving ; that they always calved by daylight ;
that he took their calves from them, and they were
brought up by hand, as the Short-horn calves were ;
but that, im carrying them away at first they stiffened
themselves out, so that he almost thought they were
dead. ‘They were very difficult to teach to drink, and,
if another calf had touched the milk in the pail offered
to them, they uniformly refused it. When the cows
and calves went out, they were obliged to give up
milking the cows any more.” I presume the wildness
of both calves and dams compelled them to allow the
calves then to suck. The whole is an excellent account
of a semi-reclaimed wild herd, such as formerly existed
in many parts of Great Britain.

In the year 1836 James Aitchison went to live as
erieve with Sir John Orde at Kilmory; in 1838 the
Duke of Buccleuch went abroad, and the home demesne
at Dalkeith was let. The new tenant did not wish to
retain the wild Athole cattle, and they were therefore
slaughtered—unfortunately before Sir John Orde was
informed. ‘The moment he heard of it, James Aitchison
was sent over. One pure-bred young bull, who was
neither beef nor veal, alone survived: he was purchased,
and brought back to Argyllshire; and with him, as its
basis, commenced the Kitmory Hrrp—a semi-wild
herd, which has been carried on for thirty-six years,
and has the characteristics of the ancient wild cattle
to as great an extent probably as any herd now exist-

ORIGIN OF THE KILMORY HERD. 349

ing in Scotland. With it I propose to close the account
of the Scottish herds ; for it seems to me that, taken in
conjunction with the narrative just given of what the
Athole cattle were when at Dalkeith, it is a most appo-
site illustration of how, in former days—in many a
lordly abbey, in many an ancient grange—the appa-
rently indomitable Urus was gradually subjected by
man, and made the means of improving and renewing
our race of domestic cattle. |

Sir John Orde is a man of very great experience and
skill in breeding. He has bred for years, besides this:
herd, Alderney, Indian, and other cattle, as well as horses
and other animals; and his acute and scientific experi-
ments in breeding have been carried on both at home
and abroad. James Aitchison—who had, as we have
seen, already managed one herd of wild cattle—was his
coadjutor in building up, from the relics of that one,
another. ‘The sheet-anchor, to begin with, was the
Duke of Buccleuch’s Athole bull. There was the wild
sort, of pure blood, and the true type which it was so
desirable to continue. The difficulty was to procure
proper females. Cows of the same strain as the bull
could. not be had—perhaps it was very well they could
not ; but cows as nearly as possible similar in colour,
character, and blood were obtained. Sir John went to
the Kyloe, or West Highlander—a breed which pro-
bably, in general character, in hair, and in horn, though
perhaps not in colour, retains as much likeness to the
Urus, as described by ancient Scottish writers, as any
variety of British cattle ; some great authorities con-
sidering it to be at least partially his descendant. The
Highlander differs much indeed from the Urus in size ;
but this is sufficiently accounted for by his inhabiting

350 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

for so many centuries a bare and inhospitable region,
where he was exposed to every privation, and where
he had often to be content with the merest modicum of
coarse food. He was often found, as we have seen, cream-
coloured or light dun ; but this colour would not do, for
Sir John Orde purchased some such cows, and found that
when put to the wild Athole bull they almost always
had very dark calves. Occasionally, though rarely, the
West Highlander is to be found white—pure white—
with pink, or rather white, skin, and with, at the same
time, a tendency to black (like the wild cattle themselves)
on the ears, muzzles, orbits of the eyes, and hoofs. Two
or three such cows were purchased from the district of
Lorn (Kalmory is in Argyll proper), and two or three,
as occasion offered, in other parts of the neighbourhood.
The result was successful. Some care in selection was
necessary at first ; but for years past there have been
none but white calves, though occasionally one is born
which wants the black nose, or the black tip to the
horns, or the black edge to the eyelids. These are not
kept for breeding ; and the herd only agrees, as we have
seen, with the most ancient of the original wild herds
in producing these slight and occasional variations.

Sir John had used the wild bull for some years when
he heard that the late Lord Breadalbane was in difficulty
about keeping up the white wild herd he had obtained
from Athole, in consequence of his cows proving barren.
The idea was (and, no doubt, a correct one) that the
barrenness might be owing to the bull being “ ower-
sib” (in English, too nearly related) “to the cows.” A
proposal was made that his lordship and Sir John
should change bulls. This was done, but Lord Breadal-
bane’s cows were not benefited by the change, and his

MANAGEMENT OF THE HERD. 301

herd became, as we have seen, extinct; Sir John’s cows
continued to breed with Lord Breadalbane’s bull as
they had done with his own. ‘This cross introduced
much more of the wild blood into the herd, for the two
wild bulls were used from 1838 till 1851 or 1852,
thirteen or fourteen years. At the latter date a pure
white and pure-bred West Highland bull-calf (with
black points) was brought from Barcaldine, in North-
Western Argyllshire, before the wild bull was parted
with. This bullimproved the stock much. No further
crosses have since been made.

The principal improvement which the Barcaldine
bull is supposed to have made is in the hind quarters,
which are less light than they were before. He also
introduced curls, which James Aitchison does not like,
because the wild bull which came from Athole to the
Duke of Buccleuch was quite free from curl. Sir
John’s bulls have usually very little curl on the neck,
but his present bull has a curly face. It may be
remarked upon this that the Chillingham bull shot by
the Prince of Wales had a good deal of curl, both on
his neck and forehead.

The management of the Kilmory herd is as follows.
The cattle are, to a very great extent, out summer and
winter. When a cow shows any appearance of calving
she is brought in and put into a loose-box until she has
her calf ; the next day she is tied up, and the calf put
into a crib; in a few days the dam goes out during the
daytime, and this continues until all have calved: the
season preferred for which is from the beginning of
January till the end of May. The bull is, therefore,
allowed to run with the cows from the end of March
till the lst of September, and then taken from them to

O02 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

prevent late calves. When they can live on the grass
the cows are wholly turned out, with their calves at
foot, till October, when they are brought home; the
calves are weaned, and the cows turned out again till
they are due to calve. The calves are kept in a straw
yard for a time till they have forgot their mothers ;
they are turned out into a field during the day, where
turnips are spread for them, being brought up to the
yard every night, where they have hay under a shed.
This is done partly in order to make them as tame as
possible. When the cows go out for the summer, after
calving, the yearlings go too, and are never brought in
till they come due to calve, or to be sold off, as the
case may be. Hay is, of course, given to those out at
pasture in the winter near the shepherd’s house. The
whole herd is usually pastured together, except that,
to avoid premature breeding, the young heifers are
kept separate till sometimes two, but more usually
three, years old; and that during the winter season
the bulls graze together, separate from the cows, in
a field enclosed by dry stone dykes. The pasture
ground of the general herd consists of a range of low
hills, much given in the highest places to grow heather,
and none of it rich land. It is of considerable extent,
not mountainous, but wild and unreclaimed, and much
of it unreclaimable. It is called the Hill, and is kept
free of sheep all the summer; but during the winter
Highland sheep, as well as the cattle, run over it
till April. With the exception of the rather shght
alteration produced by the Barcaldine bull, the cha-
racter of the herd is exactly that of the portion of the
Athole herd which came to Dalkeith. That is the
type which has, during the last thirty-five years, been

CHARACTER OF THE KILMORY CATTLE. 303

reproduced and carried on under Sir John Orde’s con-
stant supervision, with the aid and assistance of his
intelligent manager, James Aitchison, who tended the
old herd, and whose constant care and help have so
materially contributed to build up the new one on its
ruins. The description of the Athole cattle as
they existed at the Duke of Buccleuch’s need not
be repeated, for it closely apples to them. I am
informed that they are not, hke the Hamilton cattle,
mottled with black above the fetlock ; and it has been
observed of them that the more black upon the ear
the more black the hoofs also. They have all the
characteristics of the ancient herds of wild cattle, and
retain, in spite of the careful domestication they
undergo when young, a spice of their native wildness.
They are very shy, but never wicked ; and, though they
graze on a hill through which the high road to
Inverary passes, without any fence at all along the
greater part of it, have not been known to molest
anybody; but to drive the young steers to market is
a job, so they are generally sold on the ground and put
on board a steamboat near. Even the calves, five or
six months old, when at grass with their dams, will
run at the boy attending the cows, and, missing him,
tumble heels over head, and then get up and run at him
again. The cows, too, are very quarrelsome among them-
selves, and Sir John Orde has had more than one killed
by her own sisters, cousins, &c.

The place is much better adapted for breeding than
for feeding purposes, and the oxen are therefore seldom
fed at home, but sold at about six quarters old to a
distance for feeding. At the Prince Consort’s Shaw
Farm at Windsor, at the Duke of Buccleuch’s at

< :

304 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Drumlanrig, and at many other places, they have at
four years old made excellent beasts, and have given
great satisfaction to both the feeder and butcher. At
the former place I accidentally saw two of them some
years since, and was much struck with them; they
were remarkably good and very beautiful cattle. Since
that, Sir John has sent to Her Majesty the Queen, at the
Shaw Farm, Windsor, six heifers six quarters old: that
is, rising two years. They were put to a short-horned
bull, and Mr. Tait said that they produced excellent
stock. He spoke highly of the cross-bred produce, which
are said to have been all hght-coloured; but he had
to part with the mothers ‘‘ because they stared at ladies
going through the park,” and so got the credit of bemg
dangerous. On two occasions last year Sir John Orde
sent to Mr. Assheton Smith, of Vagnol Park, near
Bangor, nine cows, not picked, but such as could best
be spared, six fine and handsome heifers, rismg two
years, a bull, and six yearling steers. It is much to be
hoped that this attempt to mtroduce these valuable
cattle will be successful. That they are valuable is
evident from the fact that Sir John has twice shown, as
extra stock, cows of this breed at shows held by the
Highland Society at Perth and Glasgow, and on each
occasion he has been honoured by a silver medal.

I have dwelt somewhat long on this remarkable
herd, because it presents a wonderful example of how a
herd of cattle of a particular description has, under the
greatest difficulties, been brought to perfection in his
own lifetime by a man still living, with the aid of a
skilled subordinate who is also living; because the
system of management and treatment of these cattle
pretty vividly pourtrays, with a few trifling exceptions

MR. CHANDOS-POLE-GELL’S VISIT. 300

(such as the milking of the cows), the management and
treatment which the ancient Short-horns received a
hundred years since from our Teeswater predecessors ;
and because I am not without hope that these cattle, if
kept up and disseminated, may tend to preserve to us
still the type of our ancient wild cattle, which, I cannot
but fear, is in some danger of being lost.

The following is an account of a visit to the
Kilmory Herd made for me by Mr. Chandos-Pole-
Gell, in his own words :—

“ October 1st, 1874.—Left Greenock at 9 a.m. in the
fona, and reached Ardrishaig at one o'clock. Captain
and Miss Orde came to meet the steamer, and drove me
to Kilmory House. After luncheon, I went with James
Aitchison, the grieve, a most intelligent man, to inspect
the white cattle, which had been collected together in a
large piece of heathery moorland, in order that I might
have a better chance of observing them accurately
than on the large range, where they are usually
pastured.

“I saw seventy-seven cows, heifers, and calves, of
" various ages, but could not obtain an accurate account
of each kind. Amongst the calves were about six stots,
and, I think, two small bull-calves, still sucking their
dams, one being a very good one. ‘They are exactly
like the ordinary West Highland cattle, only white in
colour. There are black hairs inside the. ear, and the
muzzle, which is broad and well-shaped, is black, and
they are very lively-looking. I could not see any ap-
pearance of red hair above the muzzle. One of the
heifers had a black ear—the ‘black-luggit ane,’ as
Aitchison called her. No black or coloured calf ever
appears. No steers have ever been kept to maturity,

xe

306 WILD WHITH CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

except some that were ill-formed or in any way unfit to
sell. The cows would easily make thirty-two stone
(fourteen pounds) weight, and I think rather more.

“The cattle have good hair, and would, I imagine,
handle well. The bulls—which are separated from the
cows, in order that the time of their calving may be in
some degree regulated—were at a distance, four in num-
ber: three being young animals unfit for service, and
one about five years old—a very handsome fellow, with
much hair about his neck. He appeared very level
behind, and had a good rib. Two young queys have
white noses, which does not suit the character of the
animal, and makes them look weak and poor; they will
be drafted, and sold with the young stots. These two
probably trace back to a certain bull, which got a good
many that way.

“The horns of most of the animals resemble the
picture of the Argyllshire Highland ox in Youatt, but
are, perhaps, a little finer, and barely so long; they
ought to have all black tips to them. One cow, I
observed, had a different horn, a little like the Chil-
lingham cattle when you looked at her in front, but
the resemblance diminished when looked at sideways.
This cow was bought as a calf from a neighbour who
had often used the white bulls.

“The cows are bulled at two years old, but it would
be better to leave them till three years old. Excepting
the calving cows and the calves, these cattle have no
shelter, living out all winter, and only getting a little
long hay. Some steers have been fed at Drumlanrig,
and Aitchison will try and obtain an account of their
weights when killed.” |

CHAPTER XVIII.*

Conclusions— General Resemblance in the White Herds—White not improbably
the Colour of the Ancient Urus—Differences—These Differences extend
even to Structure—Proof the White Herds afford of the Destructive Effects
of In-breeding.

Brrors the subject of the wild cattle is closed, it would
seem desirable to refer briefly to some remarkable
features developed in the foregoing account.

The different breeds of wild cattle retained in this
country, though varying in many smaller particulars,
agreed in one large and principal one: they were all
white, with certain black or red markings, which were
generally in each herd of a definite and fixed character.
Such, as we have seen before, was not unlikely to have
been the colour of the ancient Bos wrus, from which they
sprang. Yet of this there must always remain some
little doubt, as has been pointed out by Darwin; for in
every one of the three great herds which still remain,
and certainly to some extent in those which are extinct
also, it was necessary to preserve the orthodox colour by
careful selection, and to destroy calves which were born—
as they were not unfrequently—with unusual markings,
or of a different colour altogether from the rest of the
herd. I must leave to naturalists to decide from what

* This chapter was written some time ago, and had not been revised
by the light of the latest information received by the author. This should
be borne in mind should any expressions be considered inconsistent with
other portions of the work, or wanting in completeness.—ED.

308 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

causes these differences of colour arose: whether from
reversion to an original type, without, or in consequence
of, a cross; from the natural tendency to variation,
increased perhaps in some cases by semi-domestication
and confinement; or from any other causes. Darwin,
speaking of these differences in the park cattle, says :—
“They show that animals nearly m a state of nature
and exposed to nearly uniform conditions, if not allowed
to roam freely and to cross with other herds, do not
keep as uniform as truly wild animals.” * And this is
certain, that at Chillingham calves have been produced
with black instead of red ears, and, which is of more
importance, “with brown and blue spots upon the
cheeks or necks;”’ at Chartley they have, at no long
intervals, been occasionally born wholly or partially
black ; and at Hamilton they sometimes come entirely
black, or black and white, and even entirely white.
The occasional occurrence of calves of unusual colours
in herds which are now extinct it is impossible ade-
quately to trace, but we know that those at Gisburne
and Burton Constable agreed with existing ones in
sometimes producing calves with muzzles and ears
differing in colour from their congeners.

What is still more important, the wild herds of
cattle, though agreeing so closely, yet differed somewhat
in structure as well as appearance. Having regard to
all these differences, I strongly incline to class them as
two pretty distinct varieties, broken imto other sub-
varieties, as follows t :—

* Darwin: “ Animals and Plants,” vol. i., chap. iii., p. 84.
+ All of the herds are not included in this classification ; at the time it
was written the author did not possess information which he received

subsequently respecting some herds. Itis also doubtful whether at this
time he was aware that the Hamilton herd is now horned.—ED.

VARIETIES OF THE WHITH CATTLE. 309

I.— VARIETY WitH HorNs.

1. Sub-variety. Having black ears, but no black tip to the
tail. The Chartley, Drumlanrig, and Athole Herds.

2. Sub-varvety. Having red or brown ears, but no black tip
to the tail. The Chillingham and Lyme Herds.

IJ.— Variety Hornuess orn Pouwen.

1. Sub-variety. Having black ears and black tips to their
tails. The Wollaton and Burton Constable Herds.

2. Sub-variety. Having black ears, but no black tips to
tail ; the fore-part of leg mottled with black. The
Hamilton Herd.

3. Sub-variety. Having red or brown ears. The Gisburne
Herd.

All the herds agreed in having the muzzle, orbits of the eyes,
tips of the horns, and hoofs more or less black.

The distinction between the two varieties is very
strongly marked, not only by the presence or absence of
horns, but also by differences in general form and
figure. ‘The polled variety were and are more robust
in their bodies, thicker, shorter (in the leg, as elsewhere),
stouter-limbed, stronger-boned, with heads rounder, and
with a general contour less elegant and striking than in
any, as far as I can ascertain, of those herds which
earried horns. ‘This may possibly have arisen from
some difference of extraction, but the similarity of the
two varieties in many other more important points
would scarcely allow us to encourage that idea. It
might arise from a cross, but it is quite as likely that
natural variation might produce, and man’s selection
continue, the hornless variety with its differences of
form. Such had been the case so long ago as the time
of Herodotus, who describes the Scythian domestic
cattle as hornless, attributing it to the great severity

360 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

of the climate.* Be this as it may, it is somewhat
singular that of the known herds of polled white
cattle, all appear to have passed through circumstances
favourable to the development and maintenance of
peculiar variations. Most at least of the other herds
could not have had so good a chance of semi-domesti-
cation.

There is another very curious thing which may be
observed. In each variety there were some herds which
had black, some which had red ears; and it seems as if,
both in the horned and hornless varieties, the black-
eared were the larger and stronger cattle, though the
red-eared were the more slender and elegant. Nay, it
appears as if the finest and largest of all these wild
cattle were those which had black tips to their tails
also. None of them seem to have attained the size and
grandeur of the black-eared and black-tailed herds of
Wollaton and Burton Constable.

But perhaps the most important result we obtain
from considermg the present state of the wild herds,
and one which should weigh heavily upon our minds
as Short-horn breeders, is the conclusion it strongly
points to on the subject which Mr. Darwin, as a
heading to his splendid chapter thereupon,t entitles—
“The Good Effects of Crossing, and the Evil Effects of

* Herod., lib. iv., chap xxix.

+ “Animals and Plants,” vol. ii., chap. xvii., pp. 114 and 119. [Any
inconsistency which some may find between this citation from Mr.
Darwin, and the views expressed in the chapters on the Chillingham
eattle, is more apparent than real. The author in those chapters—written
at a later date than this—saw reasons for questioning Mr. Darwin’s con-
clusions on the particular point of the natural relative infecundity of the
Chillingham cattle; but he adopts there, as here, Mr. Darwin’s general
conclusions, and attributes in both places the preservation of existing herds
to timely crosses.—ED. |

MR. DARWIN ON IN-BREEDING. 361

Inter-breeding.” He has already used the wild cattle
as an illustration of his argument, and I hope, by the
production of further facts, to add fresh weight to his
conclusion. His reasoning is as follows :—

“The half-wild cattle which have been kept in
British parks probably for four hundred or five
hundred years, or even for a longer period, have
been advanced by Culley and others as a case of long-
continued inter-breeding within the limits of the
same herd without any consequent injury. With
respect to the cattle at Chillingham, the late Lord
Tankerville owned that they were bad breeders. The
agent, Mr. Hardy, estimates (in a letter to me, dated
May, 1861) that in the herd of about fifty the average
number slaughtered, killed by fighting, and dying is
about ten, or one in five. The bulls, I may add, engage
in furious battles, of which battles the present Lord
Tankerville has given me a graphic description, so that
there will always be rigorous selection of the most vigor-
ous males. I procured in 1855 from Mr. D. Gardner,
agent to the Duke of Hamilton, the following account of
the wild cattle kept in the duke’s park in Lanarkshire,
which is about 200 acres in extent. The number of
cattle varies from sixty-five to eighty; and the number
annually killed (I presume by all causes) is from eight
to ten: so that the annual rate of increase can hardly
be more than one in six. Now, in South America,
where the herds are half-wild, and therefore offer a
nearly fair standard of comparison, according to Azara,
the natural increase of the cattle on an estancia is from
one-third to one-fourth of the total number, or one in
between three and four; and this, no doubt, applies
exclusively to adult animals fit for consumption.

362 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Hence the half-wild British cattle, which have long
inter-bred within the limits of the same herd, are
relatively far less fertile. Although in an unenclosed
country like Paraguay there must be some crossing
between the different herds, yet even there the in-
habitants believe that the occasional introduction of
animals from distant localities is necessary to prevent
degeneration in size and diminution of fertility. The
decrease in size from ancient times in the Chillingham
and Hamilton cattle must have been prodigious, for
Professor Riitimeyer has shown that they are almost
certainly the descendants of the gigantic Bos primi-
genus. No doubt this decrease in size may be largely
attributed to less favourable conditions of life; yet
animals roaming over large parks, and fed during
severe winters, can hardly be considered as placed under
very unfavourable conditions.”

It has always seemed to me extraordinary that any ~
one can conceive that the wild herds of the desert or
the prairie can possibly inter-breed to the extent to
which park cattle in confinement, or domestic cattle
under the control of man, may be obliged to do. Look
at the American bison at the time when its countless
thousands shared with the Red Indian alone the greater
part of the vast continent of North America, and as it
still exists, though in lessened numbers. No doubt these
cattle break up for convenience of breeding, pasturage,
&c., into many small bodies, which constantly herd
together; but even among these, in the ordinary routine
of life, there must be much admixture. Male rivalry
and female jealousy prevail throughout creation; such
combats as take place between the bulls of Chillimgham
and the cows of Kilmory occur also on the wild pasture-

IN-BREEDING PREVENTED BY NATURE. 363

ground of the bison, lessen many an overgrown herd,
and give rise to fresh ones, formed in many cases no
doubt from the waifs and strays of several old ones.
What happened to the Red Indian himself was but an
example of what happened to his friend the bison too.
But Nature had other and more stringent means by
which to enforce her laws, and to re-invigorate with
fresh blood her creatures. The grand means was to
make them what the sportsman calls yack—thousands
of herds united into one for an annual or semi-annual
emigration. ‘T'he necessities of living required them to
travel so united for thousands of miles; who can doubt
that many a herd would be reduced to its elements and
re-constituted in the process? How much more would
this be the case when one of those great stampedoes
occurred to which wild cattle are from various causes
subject, and which have been described by travellers as
so sublimely awful? Then, impelled by fear, perhaps
urged on by pursuing flames, the teeming millions rush
they know not where, down precipices, through rivers—
drowned, destroyed, trampled on—yet ever rushing on
over the bodies of their slaughtered fellows. Surely
we need not dream of the sire, dam, sons, and daughters
coming together again to continue their in-and-in breed-
ing after such wholesale destruction as that. Nature
herself, by one of the grandest of her convulsions, has
interfered to stay the evil, and has provided them with
mates of a different strain of blood. Nor in many cases
are the attacks of man and carnivorous animals without
some effect. They decimate the herds, and compel them
to unite, as the lessened coveys of grouse and partridge
do, for greater protection against the hunter.

It appears from Azara, as quoted above by Darwin,

364 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

that even the semi-wild herds of Paraguay, though not
compelled to'do so by such stringent inducements as
really wild cattle, do nevertheless cross, and that man
furthers this process still more by introducing fresh
blood, believing that, if crossing is not promoted, “ de-
generation in size and diminution in fertility’ are pro-
duced ; and Darwin goes on to prove that the park
eattle of this country are, relatively to these cattle,
degenerate and less fertile. Their diminution in size
from their great ancestor the Bos primigenius or Urus,
he also shows; and elsewhere how they have—probably
since the days of Boethius and Leslie—lost one of their
finest features, their magnificent manes; and to this Sir
Walter Scott has also alluded. Dr. Leigh’s account
of the Middleton herd given above tends to confirm
this latter fact, and would lead us to at least suspect
that a considerable increase of degeneracy in this par-
ticular has occurred during the last century and three-
quarters. And this is just what sound induction would
lead us to suppose would be the case; for as during
that period the wild herds have become much fewer in
number, and very probably the number kept in each
park has also been diminished, the opportunities for
crossing have been lessened also, the cumulative ill-
effects of contimual inter-breedmg enhanced, and the
progress of decay rendered in consequence more rapid.

_ And this is so indeed. ven in the early part of
this century the wild herds of Great Britain, imclud-
ing that at Athole which is not noticed by Bewick,
were seven in number. I purposely pass over the Mid-
dleton, the Burton Constable, and the Drumlanrig herds,
which had already ceased to be, and the cause of whose
extinction 1s, in two cases out of three, quite unknown

FATAL RESULTS TO THE WHITE CATTLE. 365

to us; but at the comparatively recent time I have
named, seven herds of wild cattle still remained.
There are now three only left; for we can scarcely
call a herd the one or two doubtful cows still remain-
ing at Lyme. our herds have during this century
first declined, and then come to an end through con-
tinued inter-breeding. We have in every case the
authority either of the proprietor himself, or of some-
one intimately acquainted with him and with the herd,
for saying this. ‘The Wollaton herd “began to dete-
riorate and fall off in size,” and at last ‘‘ would breed
no longer.” The Lyme herd is “all but cleared out ;
the cross came too late, and has not answered.” The
Gisburne herd “ got delicate from breeding in-and-in,
and always bred bulls at last.” “They required great
care.” ‘The moiety of the Athole herd which went to
the late Lord Breadalbane’s was not continued, though
for some years great efforts were made for that purpose,
because “‘they ceased to breed together, though the
cows bred with other bulls, and vice versa.”

Of the. three wild herds which still continue, it is
pretty clear that the Hamilton one must almost cer-
tainly have received an admixture of fresh blood during
the Cromwellian period, and much more certain that it
was crossed a few years since. ‘The continuous inter-
breeding of the cattle at Chillingham without inter-
mixture since the thirteenth century is a prodigy which
would require more proof than it is ever likely to re-
ceive. ‘Their neighbours, the Scottish moss-troopers,
some of whom lived within twelve miles, would have been
extremely likely to have interfered with the operation ;
and there are some strong reasons for supposing that
deliberate crosses have been taken much more recently.

366 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

At Chartley we do not know what was done formerly ;
but we know that of late the necessity for a cross has
been felt, and an attempt made to take one. We have
every reason to believe that in all these herds the general
opinion of mankind, founded on observation, and since
confirmed by science, was in former days allowed to pre-
vail, and that occasional infusions of new blood, without
destroying the type, preserved the herd itself from ex-
tinction. In the time of Bewick and Whitaker several of —
these herds bred with tame cattle; the Chillimgham and
Gisburne are especially mentioned as having done so:
and it is particularly remarked how strongly, in the
former case, the calves resembled the wild animal. This,
in ancient times, when the herds were much more nume-
rous, and their owners much less scrupulous than now,
must have had a great effect upon the cattle of the sur-
rounding districts, and have modified them considerably,
particularly as the wild bull was so impressive when put
to the domestic cow. It also afforded great facilities for
another thing—for taking crosses which retained the
type of the wild sort and partially inherited the same
blood; and I am told, on good authority, that this
opportunity was taken advantage of in some cases, and
that such crosses did take place.

Of late years the demand for excessive and un-
natural purity of blood, and the large amount of pre-
judice which has prevailed —each owner considering
his own herd the only pure and original one — has
prevented beneficial renewal. In one instance the
proprietor of one of the oldest herds persistently
refused to supply with a cross another herd as old
as, and very kindred in character to, his own, and the
consequence was the latter could not be kept up. We

SOLE HOPH OF AVERTING EHXTINCTION. 367

have already seen the effects of this short-sighted
policy in the loss of so many of our herds of park cattle
within really a short period; and I confess that I do
not see any very brilliant prospects for those which
remain, unless a different course 1s soon pursued. The
number of wild females—cows and heifers——-which are
still in existence, is scarcely more than seventy in all
the three herds put together, and hitherto prejudice has
prevented any one of these herds being of any use to
either of the others. They are quite reduced to three
distinct families, and each family a small one. Exces-
sive rarity has been aimed at, and obtained; and that is
the very worst quality that can be imposed on any
family of cattle, whether wild or of a fashionable do-
mestic sort: for 1t is produced by infertility, and the
end is to deteriorate and breed out the race.

APPENDIX I.

THE TURNBULL LEGEND.

“ BETWEEN red ezlar banks that frightful scowl,
Fringed with grey hazel, roars the mining Roull ;
Where Turnbulls once, a race no power could awe,
Lined the rough skirts of stormy Rubertslaw.
Bold was the chief from whom their line they drew,
Whose nervous arm the furious bison slew :
The bison, fiercest race of Scotia’s breed,
Whose bounding course outstripped the red deer’s speed.
By hunters chafed encircling on the plain,
He frowning shook his yellow lion-mane,
Spurned with black hoof, in bursting rage, the ground,
And fiercely tossed his moony horns around ;
On Scotia’s lord he rushed with lightning speed,
Bent his strong neck to toss the startled steed ;
His arms robust the hardy hunter Hung
Around his bending horns, and upward wrung
With writhing force his neck retorted round,
And rolled the panting monster on the ground,
Crushed with enormous strength his bony skull,
And courtiers hailed the man WHO TURNED THE BULL.”

Leyden’s “ Scenes of Infancy.”

BerorE concluding this work, I propose to consider the story
connected with King Robert Bruce which Boethius relates, as
has been already stated, and which must have occurred between
the battle of Bannockburn in the year 1314 (when the Bruce
established himself on the throne), and the king’s death in 1329,
This attack upon the king by the wild bull is, I believe, the
earliest incident in Scottish history in which this animal figures as
an actor. It took place at least five centuries and a half since—two
centuries before Boethius wrote—and it is a pretty strong proof that
when it occurred the wild bull was more abundant than in his time.
Yet even then the great Caledonian Wood must have been much

APPENDIX I. 369

diminished in its extent from what it had been centuries before, and
the wild bull, as a forest animal, was verging towards his end. And
it is singular that this was the case at the same period in England
too, and from the same cause—the rapid destruction of the larger
forests. The description given by Boethius is simple and unex-
aggerated, and bears the internal impress of truth; merely men-
tioning the attack of the wounded bull upon the king, the danger he
was in, how he was rescued by a certain man, who, at the risk of
his own life, seized the bull by the horns; who, in consequence, was
largely rewarded, and had his name changed to Turnbull; and that
from him several influential Scottish families claimed descent. There
is clearly no inherent improbability in the story. An English
historian * calls this man “a certaine stoute champion of great
stature ;” and it is no unusual thing in any nation for men to be
occasionally born who far surpass their fellows in size and strength,
as apparently did Turnbull. The sacred writings afford many ex-
amples. Grecian history contained similar narratives; and it is
doubtful whether the statue to which the following beautiful lines
from the Greek Anthology + refer was meant to represent the contest
of Hercules with the Marathonian bull, or the conquest of the
Minotaur by Theseus :—

«A miracle of art! this deadly fight :
The man bears down the bull with matchless might.
With knee upon his foe, his hands he lays,
One on the nostrils, one the horn to raise ;
He twists the neck-joints with a fatal clasp,
And back the monster falls with struggling gasp.
Who sees the skilful brass would think he viewed
The beast’s quick breath, the man with sweat bedewed.”

I have myself frequently seen a very powerful beast so held by a
strong and active man, by the nostril and the horn, till its neck was
“retorted ” back; and, romantic as the story is, it is not half go
wonderful as most of the numerous incidents which are said to have
happened to Robert Bruce in the former part of his adventurous
career. Neither was it necessary in the time of Boethius that the
story should have been transmitted through more than one or two

* Stowe.
+ “The Greek Anthology” (chap. vi., p. 161), by Lord Neaves, one of the
Senators of the College of Justice in Scotland.

Y

370 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

hands. When he was twenty years old this memorable event would
have happened about 170 years, and he might easily have heard it
from those who had associated with men grown up when it occurred.
To give an instance :—Till the age of twenty-five I constantly asso-
ciated with my grandfather, who died then, at the age of ninety ; and
he was growing up into a man when his grandfather, born soon after
the restoration of Charles II., and a man in the reign of James IL.,
died, at the age of ninety-five. Thus circumstances which happened
in the reign of James II., one hundred and eighty years since, might
have been transmitted to me from the original actor or witness
through one intervening person only. Another almost similar
instance might be given in my own family. So long-lived as are
many of the Scots, the same thing may easily have happened to
Boethius, or to those with whom he associated.

In addition, the truth of the story is amply confirmed by much
curious circumstantial evidence. The writer of the lines at the head
of this chapter was John Leyden, the very learned and lamented
friend of Sir Walter Scott, who, in ‘The Lord of the Isles,” thus
deplores his premature death in India :—

“Scenes sung by him who sings no more!
His bright and brief career is o’er,

And mute his tuneful strains ;
Quenched is his lamp of varied lore,
That loved the light of song to pour ;—
A distant and a deadly shore

Has LEYDEN’s cold remains !” *

He was a native of Denholm, in the County of Roxburgh, and in
the immediate vicinity of the country of the Turnbulls, and it is not
only the scenes, but the traditions also, of his infancy that he relates ;
and there the origin of the family of Turnbull, as described by
Boethius, was then—and is, I believe, still—universally believed. I
have met many Turnbulls, unconnected with and unknown to each
other, and they all believe in the truth of the story and in their
own descent from the man who saved the king’s life; so that this
universal family tradition deserves great consideration. It is con-
firmed still further by the crest and arms which they have borne for
generations. The following information has been kindly obtained

* “Tord of the Isles,” canto iv., stanza 11.3

APPENDIX I. 371

for me, principally by Mr. John Turnbull, of Abbey St. Bathan’s,
near Dunse, Berwickshire, and also of Frederick Street, Edinburgh,
who believes that now (its acknowledged original heads, the Turn-
bulls of Bedrule, being extinct) he has probably as good a claim to
the chieftainship of the clan as any one else. Similar accounts on
some points have been given to me by other gentlemen of the same
name.

There is no doubt of the existence of an universal and ancient
tradition as to the origin of the name, particularly in the Border
Country, where the Turnbulls lived. Their country was the valley
of Rule-Water, in Roxburghshire, a little way from Jedburgh, and
the castle of the head of the clan was Bedrule (or, as anciently
written, Badyruel), where considerable foundations still remain. The
tradition is that the family was originally Rule, or Rouel, derived
from the river Rule-Water, which was a tributary of the river
Teviot, and that the name Turnbull was assumed in consequence of
this exploit, which is said to have taken place at Callander, near
Stirling: William Roule being there in attendance on the king. It
seems to me probable that when he changed his name his collateral
relatives in his native valley, whose chief he was, changed theirs
also. And though there is no record of the grant of arms to the
original Turnbull,* the various families of this name have always
borne the bull’s head on their coat of arms, in reference to his
exploit. The coat which they bore nearly three hundred and fifty
years since is given in the MS. emblazoned by “Sir David Lindesay
of the Mount, Lord Lyon King-at-arms,” + which bears date 1542, but
certainly refers back to a considerably earlier period, for therein are
contained the arms of families which were then extinct. The arms
of Turnbull, as given there, are, “ Argent, three bulls’ heads erased
sable ;” and these are the arms which have been used with differences

* There is no doubt that many or most of the old records belonging to the
Lyon Office (which answers to the English Heralds’ College) have been lost—it is
traditionally said, by fire. The present Lyon King attributes it, however, to
other causes. Many of his predecessors kept the records in their own houses,
and on their death these papers got mixed with their own, and were destroyed or
dispersed. Itis in this way that Sir David Lindsay’s MS. is not in the Lyon
Office, but in the Advocates’ Library, where it has been fortunately preserved.
This destruction of ancient heraldic documents makes it very difficult to trace
the arms of many Scottish families very far back.

+ Sir W. Scott’s “‘ Marmion,” canto iv., stanza 7.

You

372 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

for hundreds of years by the various families of Turnbull of Bedrule,
of Know, of St. Bathan’s, of Strickathro, of Smiddichill, of Currie,
and others.* Yet, ancient as these arms were, there seems to have
been, nearer to the time of Robert Bruce, a still older coat, which
was charged with one bull’s head only. On a buttress of Jedburgh
Abbey—approximating in point of date, it would seem, to the time I
have named—is a shield bearing one bull’s head only ; and Nisbet, in
his work on heraldry, 7 says : ‘‘ The name of Turnbull carried Argent,
a bull’s head erased sable, of late three of them, disposed two and

’ and then, after repeating the origin of the name, which he

one ;’
says before was Ruel, and laying the scene in the Forest of Stirling
(in which Callander, traditionally said to be the place where it
occurred, was), he adds :—“ I have seen the armorial seal of Turnbull
of Minto appended to a charter of his of the date 1455, which had
only one bull’s head, and that cabossed. Of late those of this name
multiply the heads to three.” Mr. Turnbull’s arms of Abbey St.
Bathan’s are :—“ Per chevron, argent and sable, three bull’s heads
erased, counter changed.”

The earliest form of the crest, as borne by the family of Bedrule,
is not known, but it seems to have been always, in some form or
other, the bull’s head. The oldest in the Lyon Office is that of
Turnbull of Know (1672), and it was “a bull’s head cabossed, sable.”
Mr. Turnbull’s of Abbey St. Bathan’s is ‘‘a dexter hand fessways,
couped, holding a dagger erect, proper, hilted, and pommelled or,
bearing on the point thereof a bull’s head erased, sable.” It can be
traced back for one hundred and fifty years. Of the origin of his
striking motto, which so singularly confirms the old tradition—
3 saved the Ring—Mr. Turnbull knows nothing, except that he finds
it on silver plate from 100 to 150 years old, so that it is at least no ~
new assumption.

* T have not thought it worth while to allude to the suppositions of some
that the family of Turnbull were derived from Robertus de Tremblage, whose
name appears on the “ Ragman’s Roll’’—that is, the list of those Scots who
swore submission to Edward I. of England in the years 1292-96 and 1297.
Robert de Tremblage took the oath of allegiance on July 28th, 1296, at Elgin.
A member of such a family was not very likely to have so soon afterwards
received a grant of land from Robert Bruce: the supposition is unsupported by
any evidence whatever ; and the Tremblages, living in Fifeshire, Forfarshire, or
Kincardine, were most remote from the country in which so shortly afterwards
the Turnbull family flourished.

+ Nisbet’s “System of Heraldry,” p. 340, and 2nd ed., 1804, p. 332.

APPHNDIX I. 379

It occurred to me at first that the bul!’s head in the St. Bathan’s
arms being sable was of a different colour from what might have
been supposed ; but little was thought of this at the Lyon Office.
Mr. Turnbull was informed there that “there is nothing unsatis-
factory in the bull’s head being sable; for heraldic colours were
generally taken instead of the proper colours.” And besides this, it
should be remembered that we have no record of the grant of arms
made to the original Turnbull, or of the colours of the arms which
the heads of the family at Bedrule bore. We only know what arms
have been borne by junior branches of the family ; and it is well
known that the colours were often changed, as a difference, to dis-
tinguish the arms of younger branches from those of the parent
stock. We have, therefore, really nothing to show of what colour
the bull’s head was in the original coat.

But besides this, the most undeniable evidence exists that a man,
formerly of some other surname, did at this exact time assume the
name of Turnbull, and that he was rewarded by King Robert Bruce
for services done. In the “ Register of the Great Seal of Scotland ” *
is given a charter by that king to ‘ Willielmo vocato Turnebull”
(William, called Turnebull), of a piece of land at Fulhophalch (Philip-
haugh), on condition of his rendering “unam sagittam amplam ad
festum assumptionis beatee Mariz Virginis.” The “vocato Turnebull ”
of the grant strikingly coincides with the statement of Boethius about
the man whom the king “ Turnbull appellari exinde voluit.” It was
clearly a name very lately taken.

It is also very curious that in the “ Liber de Calchou” (the Book
of Kelso Abbey) there appear grants to the monks from the family
of Roule, or Rule, before this time—one particularly was made by
Adam de Roule about the year 1300, and to this William Rule (who
has been supposed to have been the very person of whom I write)
was a witness ;t while subsequently only, and then very soon, the
name of Turnbull occurs and that of Rule disappears. A Walter
Turnbull is a witness to three of these grants. These charters have

* Page 6. A Royal Commission began to print this “‘ Register,” but only
one volume was issued, entitled “ Registrum magni sigilli Regum Scotorum,”’’
&¢c., containing the Charters from 1306 to 1424. The reference is to the page
of this volume.

+ Pages 136 and 458 of “ Liber de Calchou,”’ one of the Bannatyne Club
books, printed for the Bannatyne Club by the Duke of Roxburgh.

{ “ Liber de Calchou,” pp. 339, 387, and 394,

374 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

themselves no dates ; but the charters confirming them are—one by
David II., King of Scots, the Ist of April, 1354, and the two last
by Edward III. of England, dated the lst of May, “ Anno Regni
nostri, Angliz 24, et Francie 15:” that is, about the year 1351.

We have not even yet done with this famous knight (for knighted
it is said he was), Sir William Turnbull. Scottish traditions say that
he fell at the battle of Halidon Hill, fighting against the English, in
1333. The English historian, Stowe, thus relates the circumstance :
““Whereuppon at length the two armies appoynted to fight, and
setting out uppon Halidowne Hill, there commeth foorth of the Scots
campe a certain stoute champion of great stature, who, for a fact by
him done, was called Turnebulle ; hee, standing in the midst betwixt
the 2 armies, challenged all the Englishmen, any one of them, to
fight with him a combat. At length one Robert Venale, knight, a
Norfolke man, requesting license of the king, being armed, with his
sword drawne, marcheth toward the champion, meeting by y® way a
certain blacke mastiffe dogge, which waited on the champion, whom
with his sword he sodainely strake, and cut him off at his loynes ;
at the sight whereof the maister of the dogge slain was much abashed,
and in his battell more warie and fearefull: whose left hand and
head also afterward this worthy knight cut off.” *

Baker, in his “Chronicles,” mentions the same circumstance,
and calls the knight ‘“ Venile.” And Barnes, in his “ History of
Edward III.,” t gives a much fuller account of this single combat,
and says that the name of the English knight was Sir Robert
Benhale, who in the Parliament of 1331 (only two years previously)
had been fined fora riot. It seems, therefore, probable that as he
was then under a cloud he might be all the more anxious to wipe
out the memory of his disgrace by engaging in this chivalric and
dangerous undertaking. Barnes also expressly identifies Turnbull
with the man who saved Robert Bruce from the wild bull.

* Stowe’s “ Annales,”’ continued by Edward Howes, 1615, p. 231.
+ 1688, chap. vi., p. 77.

APPENDIX IL.

IAD A SVG) 1g FO) OPA IGIESY ETD |S)

WHERE WILD WHITE CATTLE OR THEIR DOMESTIC DESCENDANTS ARE PROVED TO HAVE
EXISTED.

In Scotland.

Tae Great CaLepontaNn Woop.—Throughout the whole of this
the wild mountain bull ranged from the earliest times ; latterly
he only survived at the three following places :—

Stirling.—King Robert Bruce hunted him here, tradition says,
-about the year 1320, and wild cattle were still found in this
neighbourhood in 1578.

Cumbernauld.—King James LV. hunted the wild cattle in the Forest
of Cumbernauld about the year 1500; they are mentioned by
historians in the years 1526 and 1578; they were the subject
of a State Paper in the year 1570), and did not become finally
extinct till the early part of the last century.

Kincardine.—They are noticed by Leslie as remaining here
in 1578.

Capzow Park (Hamitton).—The wild cattle have been here from
time immemorial. They had a narrow escape from destruction
during the civil wars of the seventeenth century. This herd is
still existing.

AUCHENCRUIVE (County of Ayr).—There was here a herd of wild
cattle, of unknown antiquity, the property of Lord Cathcart.
Charles, ninth baron, sold the estate in 1763 to Richard Oswald,
and the cattle were destroyed a few years later.

Arprossan (County of Ayr).—Wild cattle were introduced about
1750 by Alexander, tenth Earl of Eglinton; they were de-
stroyed in 1820.

DruMLANRIG CasTLE (County of Dumfries).—Here was a herd of
wild cattle of great and unknown antiquity ; it was destroyed
towards the close of the last century by William, fourth and
last Duke of Queensberry, of the Douglas family.

376 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Forrest or ATHOLE.—From the remains of the ancient wild cattle
still existing here, Lord Glenlyon formed a wild herd towards
the beginning of this century, which was eventually removed to

TaymoutH—the Marquis of Breadalbane’s—and

Datkerra—the Duke of Buccleuch’s.—Both these herds are now
extinct ; but from these two in part descends the semi-wild
herd at

Kitmory House (County of Argyll).—It is the property of Sir John
Powlett Orde, Bart. This herd still exists.

*,* The Cadzow Park (Hamilton) and the Kilmory herds are
the only two now existing in Scotland.

In England.

Dunsmore Heat (in Warwickshire).—A celebrated wild cow is
said to have been slain here between the years 925 and 941 ;
and here, even from Saxon times, “a white bull with red ears
and a red nose” has been imposed as a forfeiture for non-pay-
ment of certain dues.

Tue SouTHERN Forests, in the time of King Cnut, contained
“ Bubali,” or wild bulls—that is, from 1017 to 1035.

THe CHILTERN Forests (Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Mid-
dlesex), in the time of Edward the Confessor—from a.p. 1041 to
a.D. 1066—contained wild bulls.

ENFIELD CuHAsE, then extending up to the gates of London, in the
year 1174 contained wild bulls “in great abundance.”

KwaresporoucH Forest (Yorkshire), about the year 1200, had its
“fierce wild” cows.

CuHILtiincHaAm CastTLe (Northumberland) has in its park a fine herd
of these cattle, certainly several hundred years old, and probably
much older.

CuHaTTON, adjoining Chillingham, imparked by King Edward I. in
1291 or 1292, contained ‘‘ wild animals,” presumably the same
as those at Chillingham.

Naworta CasTLe (Cumberland) had wild cattle on its extensive
moors in ancient times.

CHARTLEY Park (Staffordshire) was, it is believed, enclosed about
the year 1248, and the wild cattle, deer, wild boars, and other
wild animals, were then driven into it out of Needwood Forest,

APPHNDIX II. 377

of which it formed part, and which they had long previously
inhabited. Their descendants are still kept here.

Lyme Parx (Cheshire), enclosed about 1280 or 1290 from the royal
Forest of Macclesfield, obtained its wild herds, still remaining,
in a similar manner from the ancient wild cattle of that
forest.

BuakeE ey (Lancashire) had wild bulls in days so early that even
350 years since they were spoken of as “ times paste.”

BisHop AvcKLAND (Durham).—Previous to the Reformation, and
again a hundred years later, the wild herd of the Bishops of
Durham, which was of unknown antiquity, and kept in their
park here, is mentioned by those who saw them. They seem
to have been destroyed during the civil wars of Charles the
First’s time.

BravreEpatireE (Durham), the hunting park of the Priors of Durham.—
There seems fair reason for supposing that it contained wild
cattle, and that these were destroyed by the Scots in 1315.

Rasy Castie (Durham), the principal seat of the Nevills.— Various
circumstances render it most highly probable that the wild
cattle were kept here. They were certainly kept at

Barnard CastLE (Durham)—a seat of a younger branch of the
Nevill family, only six miles from Raby. These cattle are
mentioned in a royal grant of 1626.

Hocuton Tower (Lancashire) had in olden times a very ancient
herd of wild cattle, which has probably been extinct 200 years
or more.

Mippieton Hatt (Lancashire), the seat of the Asshetons, and
close to Blakeley, had an old herd of wild cattle, described in
1700, and probably the descendants of the Blakeley bulls.

BowianpD Forest (Lancashire) is traditionally believed to have
been the source from which many wild herds sprang.

Wuattey Appey (Lancashire) had a park which certainly con-
tained them ; and they are traditionally believed to have been
obtained from Bowland Forest in the times of the Lord Abbots.
If not, they were introduced by the impropriators, the Asshetons,
from Middleton. ‘They came to an end about the year 1700.

GispuRNE Park (Yorkshire).—Here was long kept a well-known |
wild herd, belonging to the family of Lister, now Lords Rib-
blesdale. It was brought from Whalley Abbey either at the

378 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

dissolution, or in the time of the Asshetons, or at both periods.
It died out less than twenty years ago. _

Burton ConsraByE (Yorkshire).—A large and good herd, of great
antiquity but unknown origin. It belonged to the Clifford
Constables, and came to an end in the latter part of the last
century.

Wottaton Hau (Nottinghamshire).—Here, till about fifty years
since, was a beautiful herd, of unknown origin but of great
antiquity, as is shown by the name they bore: “ The Old Park
Cattle.”

SoMERFORD Park (Cheshire), Sir C. W. Shakerley’s, contains a herd
which has been here for several hundred years. Derived un-
doubtedly at first from the wild herds of South Lancashire, it
has been long domesticated, but strikingly preserves the ancient
character of the breed.

Hoipensy (Northamptonshire).—A comparatively modern park,
made in the time of Queen Elizabeth, but purchased and much
enlarged by King James I., by whom, in all probability, the wild
cattle kept there were introduced. They were destroyed during
the civil wars in the reign of his son, Charles I.

EwELmeE (Oxfordshire).—An ancient royal park which the wild cattle
inhabited in the time of James I. and in the early part of the
following reign. There is, however, strong reason for believing
that they were located here in much earlier times.

LeicH Court (Somersetshire), near Bristol—A very ancient park,
belonging formerly to the Augustinian Canons near Bristol. A
wild herd flourished here till 1806, when they were destroyed
on account of their ferocity. Their origin is uncertain: but
they probably went back to the monastic period.

Tue Gunton, Buick~ine, anD Woopgpastwick Herps (Norfolk)
were all derived from the ancient wild herd of Middleton, in
Lancashire. The first of them died out some thirty years
since ; the two latter still exist, more or less pure. All were
domesticated.

Brooke Hatt (Norfolk).—This herd, the property of the Kerrisons,
was domesticated, but of the same type. The origin of it has
not been ascertained.

TON Dy ie

Aberfraw, Kingdom of, 109.

Aislabies of Studley Royal, White
Breed of the, 112. :

Ancient domestic races of White
Cattle, 50, 103 et seg., 117.

Ancient religious ceremonies, White
Cattle preferred in, 18.

Ardrossan Herd, 330 et seq.

Arnoldsbiggin, 283.

Assheton pedigree, The, 284.

Athole Herd, 345; lost Breadalbane
portion, 346; Duke of Buccleuch’s
portion of the, 7b.

Auchencruive Herd, 329.

B.

Bailey, John, steward at Chillingham
Park, 145.

Bakewell, his discoveries, 212, 216.

Bellenden, John, Archdeacon of Moray,
132.

Beskwood Park, 274.

Bewick, Thomas, author of the “‘ Ge-
neral History of Quadrupeds,” 145 ;
engraving of a Chillingham Wild
Bull by, 195; on the rich pasturage
at Holderness, 254.

Bison of Bialowitz, 165; of the Mis-
sissippi, 295.

Black Calves, 237.

Blickling Hall Herd, descended from
the Gunton Park Herd, 306; Rev.
G. Gilbert’s Report in 1875, 307 et
seq. ; severely injured by the cattle
plague, 308; characteristics of the,
809 et seqg.; Woodbastwick Calves
exchanged with those of, 313.

‘¢ Boar Green,” 297.

Boethius, 125, 139.

Booth’s celebrated White Bull, 196.
Bos bubalus, 19.

» frontosus, 3.

» Gaurus, 9.

indicus. ir

», Longifrons (alias Brachyceros), 2

et seq., 109, 142, 185.
», Primigenius (vide Urus).
», Scoticus, Foreign writers on the,
132.

» Laurus, 1.

5, Lrochoceros, 3.
Bower, Remarkable discovery at, 143.
Boyd Dawkins’ “ Cave Hunting,” 4 e¢

seq.; “ British Fossil Oxen,” 9.
Breeding, Old theories respecting, 211.
Brense, Maud de, 107.

‘‘ Bride of Lammermoor,” 123.
British Wild Cattle, similar in all im-

portant characteristics, 49.

Brooke House, White Catitle of, 317.
Brown’s description of the Hamilton

Herd, 338 et seq.

Buccleuch, Duke of, as a breeder of

cattle, 346.

Bugge, Ralph, ancestor of the Wil-

loughbys, 269.

Bull, An encounter with a, 190.
Burton Constable, The Manor House

at, 253.

Burton Constable Herd, 253 ; Bewick’s

account of, 254.

Burton, Mr. Thomas, 270.

C.

Cesar, Allusion to the Bos primigenius
by, 128, 186; Celtic civilisation at
the time of his invasion, 4.

Caledonian Forest, History of the,
140.

380

** Carectonia,” probably Carrick, 139.

“* Castle Dangerous,’’ Account of a Wild
Cattle hunt in, 122.

Cator, Mr., of Woodbastwick Hall,
309.

Celtic Cattle, Small (see Bos longifrons).

Charolais Breed, The, 30.

Chartley Herd, early notices of these
cattle as ‘‘ Wild Beasts,” 220; black
calves considered a family omen,
221; Author’s first visit to the, 223 ;
essentially Long-horns, 225; Author’s
second visit to the, 226; peculiar
characteristics of the, 231 et seq. ;
resemblance between cattle at So-
merford Park and, 233; not so wild
as the Chillingham Cattle, 235; at-
tempts to cross the herds, 238 ; white
cattle in the neighbourhood of the,
239 ; Messrs. Pole-Gell and Thornton
on the, 240; size of the cattle, 243.

Chartley Park, Erdeswick’s account
of, 219; extract from an old steward’s
account-book at, 220.

Chatton, formerly a royal residence
and demesne, 172.

Chillingham Herd, Bewick’s Account
of the, 145 et seq.; mentioned by
Messrs. Culley and Pennant, %b.;
Lord Tankerville’s account of the,
152 et seq.; colour of the ears, 155;
Jesse’s statement incorrect, 158;
Mr. Hindmarsh’s account, 159;
‘““The Druid ” on the, 163; Bull shot
by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales,
165; visit of Messrs. Pole-Gell,
Booth, and Thornton to, 168 et seq. ;
Author’s visit toin 1874, 172; length
of time for suckling calves, 180;
Nathusius on the Chillingham skull,
170; essentially wild cattle, 184;
attack upon Mr. Hope by a steer of
this breed, 187; attack upon Lord
Ossulston, 188; attack upon a
keeper, 190; thin red line above
the muzzle characteristic of the, 193;
the mane mentioned by Boethius, 194;
other characteristics of the, 197;
specimens preserved by Mr. Briggs
of Wooler, 197; constitution and
government of the, 200; a fight for
the kingship, 201; calving in the,
203; weight and quality of the meat,
204; sick animals often gored, 1b. ;
past and present statistics of the,
205; uncommonly fine and delicate
bones, 206; questions of fecundity

INDEX.

and inter-breeding, 209; no proof
that it has never been crossed, 210 ;
bulls mated with Short-horn heifers,
217; Mr. Culley on the purity of the
breed, 270.

Chillingham, A brief account of, 147;
the Castle at, 150; ancient British
encampment at, ib.; magnificent
view near, 172.

Clanwilliam, Earl, bull shot by, 161.

Clifford-Constable, Sir F. A. Talbot,
253.

Clitumuus, Virgil on the White Cattle
of, 20.

“Coil More,” 119.

Culley, Mr. George, historian of the
Chillingham Herd, 144, 270.

Cumbernauld Herd, mentioned by
Boethius, 135; history of the, 322
et seq.

Creswell Moss, probable fossil remains
of the Bos primigenius in, 182.

1D};

Dalkeith Herd, Aitchison’s account
of the, 346; only one bull left, 347.
Dark-coloured calves, Destruction of,
266,

Darwin, Professor, on the origin of the
White Cattle, 1, 3.

**Death of the Bull,” by Landseer,
188.

Deer-driving, Old Joseph Watson’s
method of, 246.

De Musco Campo, The ancient House
of, 151.

Devereux, Sir Walter, 219.

Dickinson’s description of the Lyrick
Hall Herd, 115; of Caledonian Forest
Wild Cattle, 197.

Dixon, Mr. H. H., on the Chillingham
Cattle, 1380.

Druidism, British, 19, 109.

Drumlanrig Herd, 328.

* Duneraggan’s Milk-white Bull,” 124.

Dunsmore Heath, Legend of the Wild
Cow of, 104.

Durham, Bishops of, 255.

Dynevwr, 109.

EB.

Hilean nan Con, 119.

Epirus, White Cattle of, 23.
Extinct British Herds, 320 et seq.
Ewelme Park, 99.

INDEX.

F.

Falkland Islands, Cattle of the, 213.

Ferrers, Lord, his efforts to improve
the Chartley breed, 238.

Ford, Bailiff at Somerford Park, 258.

Forest of Macclesfield, 247..

Fossil species, 1 et seq.

Fountains Abbey, Cattle of, 213.

Friar Tuck, 257,

Friesland Ox, 33.

G.

Gayot, M., onthe Hungarian Cattle, 39.

Gilbert, Rev. George, on the Gunton
Park Herd, 303; on the Woodbast-
wick cattle, 314.

Gisburne Park Herd related to the
Middleton Herd, 277; Bewick’s de-
scription in 1790, 278; Whitaker’s
description in 1804, 279; a Polled
Herd, 7b.; originally from Whalley
Abbey or Middleton, ib.; semi-do-
mesticated character of the, 286;
Lord Ribblesdale’s account of, 287 ;
Rev. T. Staniforth’s account of,
287; Mr. Assheton’s account of,
280 ; last animal killed, 290; causes
of its extinction, 292.

Glendale Ward, 147.

Grace Darling, scene of her exploit,
172.

Griffith’s “‘ Animal Kingdom,’’ 27.

Gulyas, 41.

Gunton Park Herd, originally from
Middleton, 299; at its perfection,
300; Lord Suffield’s description of
the, 1b.; Messrs. Coleman and
Gilbert on the, 303; its resemblance
to the Polled Cattle of Somerford
Park, 304; Extinct save in offsets,
305; its influence in the district:
ancestors of Woodbastwick, 312.

Ee

Half-horns, 240.

Hamilton Herd, Professor Low on a
common tendency in the Chilling-
ham cattle, &c., 266; account of
the, 338 ; and the Chillingham Cattle,
339; During the Cromwellian period,
340; when crossed, 342; formerly
harmless, ib.; Mr. Chandos-Pole-
Gell’s account of the, 344,

Harbord, Sir H., 298.

381

Hepburn Wood, 150.

Herodotus, his account of the Wild
Bulls of Crestonia, 11; Hippocrates,
on the Wild Bulls mentioned by
Herodotus, 12.

Holdenby Herd, The, 97.

Holstein Cattle, 34.

Howel Dha, Code of laws ascribed to,
106.

Hughes, Mr. G. H., of Middleton Hall,
1381,

‘* Hughie the Graeme,” Ballad of, 113.

Hungarian Cattle, Characteristics of
the, 37 et seq.; Professor Wrightson
on the, 41; Dr. Hlubeck on the, 42.

Hyrcinian Forest, Wild Beasts of the,
13.

Ne

- Improved Long-horns, 228 ef seq.

In-breeding, Evil effects of, 209, 294,
360 et seq.

Italian Cattle, Varro on the colour of,
19)

J.
Jesse’s Natural History, 18.

K

Kadyll, William, ‘‘ White Calfe’’ of,
155, 214.

Kaormaosd breed, The, 40.

Kilmonivaig, 119.

Kilmony Herd, semi-wild, 348; how
Sir John Orde formed it, 7b; last
eross with the, 351; present con-
dition of the, 7b. ; Mr. Chandos-Pole-
Gell’s account of the herd, 355.

Kincardine of Bishop Leslie, where
situated, 135.

“King’s Hag of Beskwood,”’ 273.

Knightlow Cross, The Custom of, 103.

Knollys, Lord William, 98.

Kjékken-médden, 10.

Kyloe Breed, 136.

L.

** Lady of the Lake,’’ Douglas’s home
as described in the, 1238.

Lancashire Bull, The original, 300.

Landseer, Sir Edwin, 130, 170, 188,
196,

382

Leacnabagill, 122.

Legh, Sir Piers, 245.

Leland, his account of the antiquity
of the Middleton Park Herd, 297.

Lenton, Shorthorns at, 272.

Leslie, Bishop, 132, 135, 139.

Lincoln Bullock, The, 35.

Long-horns, Account of the, 225; Mr.
Chapman’s, 242; further particulars
respecting, 251.

Lothian, Lord, 3138.

Louis Bous, author of ‘‘ India and its
Native Princes,” 18.

Low, Professor, on the English Forest
Breed, 28; on the Welsh White
Cattle, 105, 266.

Ludchurch, 257.

Lyell, Sir Charles, on Colour in Human
Races and Cattle, 216.

Lyme Park Herd, An account of the,
245 et seq.; Hansall’s account of
the, 246 et seq.; Author’s visit to
in 1875, 247; attempt to procure a
cross with the, 249; the Chartley
cross, %b.; the Polled Gisburne
cross, 250; habits of the old
cattle, 251; the largest Wild Breed
known in this country, 252.

Lyrick Herd, Particulars respecting
the, 114 et seq.

M.

Mackensie’s ‘‘ View of the County of
Northumberland,” 154,

Mariahoff Ox, Measurement of a, 44.

Meaux, The Cistercian Abbey of, 255.

Michie, head keeper at Chillingham,
166, 203; on the goring of the
sick cattle, 204.

Middleton Park Herd, Dr. Leigh’s
account of, in 1700, 294; probable
origin of the, 297; finally removed
to Gunton Park, 298

Miles, Sir William, of Leigh Court, 99.

Moldavia, Oxen of, 23.

Monadh-Liadh, 119.

Moody, Mr. Henry, 271.

N.

Nathusius, Herman von, 153; on the
Chillingham skull, 170.

Naworth Castle, 149.

Needwood, Forest of, 220.

INDEX.

Nilsson, Professor, on the Bos longi-
frons, 2, 4; on the tendency of
Cattle to grow smaller in process of
domestication, 185.

O.

Osaky, Count, breeder of the Kaor-
maosd White Cattle, 40.

Ossulston, Lord, his experience of
Chillingham Cattle, 157.

Owen Professor, on the proper number
of breeding cows in a herd, 171.

Owen’s College, Manchester, Stuffed
White Cow at, 291.

18,

Paul Potter’s Bull, 35.

Pennant’s ‘‘ British Zoology,” 145.

Pliny, on White Cattle sacrificed in
British ceremonies, 19.

Podolian race of White Cattle, 44.

‘* Prince of Wales’ Plain,” 175.

R.

Rannock, Black Wood of, 120.

“Red Comyn,” 332.

Robert Bruce, Narrow escape of, 127.

Robin Hood’s Bog, 175.

Russian Steppes, Cattle of the, 47,
234, 267.

Riitimeyer, Professor, on the Bos trocho-
ceros in fossil remains of the Bos
primigentus in Swiss lake-dwelling
district, 11; his opinion of the,
153; the anatomical investigations
of, 185.

S.

Saint Robert, Tradition of, 83.

Scott, Sir W., his allusions to Wild
White Cattle, 122.

Shakerley, Sir C. W., 256.

Shirley, Mr., 220.

Short-horns, Youatt on the red ears of
White, 198; at Lenton, 272. —

Sibbald, Sir Robert, author of ‘‘ Scotia
Illustrata,” 136.

Sinclair, Sir John, author of a ‘‘ Sta-
tistical Account of Scotland,” 118.
Smith, Dr. J. A., on the Urus of Cale-

donia, 140.

INDEX.

Somerford Park Herd, Some account of
the, 256; probably connected with
the Lyme Park and Chartley, 257;
Author’s visit to in 1875, 258; a
pure white breed, 259; pure milking
qualities of the, 263 ; probable use of
diluted crosses in the, 264; antiquity
of the herd, %b.; its probable origin,
265; interesting proof of the slight
variability in colour, 266.

Stark, The name of, 324.

Staunton Harold, Lord Ferrers’ estate,
221.

Stirling, Wild Bulls formerly kept for
royal sport at, 135.

Suffield, Lord, his herd in Norfolk, 97.

Sus scrofa, Genuine specimen of the,
239.

Swart Money, 104.

Swiss lake-dwelling district, The Urus
in the, 11, 186.

Symson’s ‘‘ Large Account of Gallo-
way,” 214.

ae

Tacitus on the Friesland Oxen, 33.

Tankerville, Harl of, 148, 156,
166, 180, 190, 196, 205.

Taylor, Mr. William, of Hendon Grange,
155.

Teutonic tribes, their
Celtic civilisation, 6.

_ Thorpe, Mr., architect of Wollaton
Hall, 269.

Transylvanian Ox, 43 et seq.

Turnbull legend, The, 127, 368.

‘“Twopenny,” Bakewell’s celebrated
bull, 226.

Tyler’s “‘ Early History of Mankind,”
9.

158,

influence on

U.

Urus (Bos primigenius), Origin of the,
4 et seq.; not to be confused with
the bison, 9; objections to the
designation Bos primigenius, 10; dis-
tinct from the buffalo, 1b.; details
in ancient writers respecting the,
11 et seq.; characteristics of the,
13; allusion in the Niebelungen Lied
to the, 14; apparent resemblance
between various domestic races of
White Cattle and the, 23 et seq.;
not black, 24; in ancient Britain,
50; fossil remains in the Stone and
Bronze Ages of the, 52 ef seq.; likely

389

to survive longer in Scotland and
North of England, 54; other allu-
sions to the, 109, 121, 182, 186; of
the Hyrcinian Forest, 128; Boethius,
regarding the mane of the, 135;
discovery of bones in Scotland, 141 ;
colour of the, 266.

ive

Vale Royal, Herd at, 110.

Varro upon the colour of the Italian
Cattle, 19.

Virgil mentions certain White Cattle,

W.

Wales, Wild White Cattle of, 105 et
seq.

Walsh, Captain, 226, 236.

Welsh Laws, Notices of White Cattle in
ancient, 106.

Whinburgh Park Farm, 305.

Whitaker, Dr., Author of “ History of
Craven,” 279.

White Cattle, Origin of British, 1 et
seq.; unfounded prejudice against,
16; allied race of, 71b.; antiquity
and high appreciation of the colour,
18; of Clitumnus, 20; of Epirus, 23;
Charolais breed of, 30; Kaormaosd
breed of, 40; early notice of, 56;
their last home in Britain, 60 et
seq.; forest breed of, 74; in parks,
76 et seq.; Podolian race, 44; an-
cient domestic race of, in England
and Wales, 102 et seq.; no notice
of in-monastic records, 103; in
Wales, and especially in Pembroke,
105; notices of in ancient Welsh
laws, 106 ; Maud de Brense’s present
of to King John’s queen, 107;
Author’s remarks upon those of
Wales, 108 et seqg.; Lyrick Herd of,
114; traces of in Scottish local names,
117; in ancient Scotland, 7b. ; allu-
sions to in Sir Walter Scott’s works,
122; clearly distinguished. from
Kyloe breed, 186; Chillingham Herd
of, 144 et seg.; strongest tendency
to black in Southern herds, 276; .
proofs of the influence of the wild
breed upon English domesticated
cattle, 319; existing Scottish herds
of, 338; Author’s final observations

384

ou, 357 et seq.; general resemblance
in the herds, 1b. ; and to the ancient
Urus, ib.; differences extending even
to structure, 359; proofs furnished
by them of the destructive effects of
in-breeding, 360 et seq.; list of the
localities in England and Scotland
where they have existed, or still
exist, 375 et seq.

Whitton, George, on the Chartley Herd,
223.

Wilkinson's
Lenton, 272.

Willoughbys, Barons Middleton, 269.

‘‘ Windsor,” Mr. Booth’s celebrated
White Bull, 196.

Wollaton Hall Herd, existing in 1790,
269; was a Polled herd, 271; Bur-
ton’s account of the,ib.; Willoughby’s
account of the, %b.; semi-domes-

Short-horn Herds at

INDEX.

ticated, 273; extinguished by neg-
ligence and in-breeding, 1b.; pro-
bable origin of the herd, 1b.

Woodbastwick Hall Herd, Mr. Cator’s,
309; also from the Gunton Cattle,
312; calves exchanged with Blick-
ling,crossed with Short-horns in 1864,
314; Rev. G. Gilbert’s report on the
herd at, ib.; distinct from Polls of
Scotland and Eastern Counties, 316
et seq.

Wooler, 148.

Wycliffe Hall, the seat of the Con-
stable family, 255.

WG

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Youatt, Mr., 106; cn the red ears of
the White Short-horns, 193.

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JONES, F.R.S. With 400 Wood Engravings, and Forty Coloured
Plates from Original Designs by F. W. KEYL. Four Vols., 4to,
cloth, 7s. 6d.; gilt edges, 10s. 6d. each. Or Two Vols., cloth, gilt
edges, £1 Ios.; half-calf, £2 2s.

Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery.
With Numerous Engravings and Full-page Coloured Plates. Con-
taining about 9,000 Recipes. 1,280 pages, royal 8vo, half-roan, 15s.

The Domestic Dictionary.

An Encyclopedia for the Household. 1,280 pages, royal 8vo,
half-roan, I5s.

Cassell’s PiGucchald Gide

New and Revised Edition. A Comprehensive Guide to Every
Department of Practical Life. With Illustrations on nearly every
page, and COLOURED PLATES. Complete in Four Vols., 6s. each.

The Diseases of Women: Their Causes,

Symptoms, and Treatment. By A Physician. Extra fcap.
8vo, cloth, 6s.

A Handbook of Nursing, for the Home and

for the Hospital. By CaTHERINE J. Woop. Cloth, 3s. 6d.

Cassell Petter & Galpin: Ludgate Hill, London, Paris; and New Vork.

5

Selections from Cassell Petter & Galpin’s Volumes (Continued ).

Familiar Wild Flowers.

FIRST SERIES. By F. E. HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A. With Forty
Full-page Coloured Plates and Descriptive Text, together with
a Concise Scientific Summary. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt edges,
in cardboard box, I2s. 6d.

Seiencestorialls
VoL. I. Edited by Dr. ROBERT BROWN, M.A., F.L.S., &c., assisted
by eminent Scientific Writers. Vol. 1. contains about 350 Il]lustra-
tions and Diagrams. Extra crown 4to, cloth, price 9s.

The Races of Mankind.
By ROBERT BRowN, M.A., Ph.D., F.L.S., F.R.G.S. Complete in

Four Vols., containing upwards of 500 Illustrations. Extra crown
4to, cloth gilt, 6s. per Vol. ; or Two Double Vols., £1 Is.

The Countries of the World.
By ROBERT BROWN, M.A., Ph.D., F.L.S., F.R.G.S. Vols. I., II.,
and III., with 130 Illustrations and Maps. Ex. crown 4to, cloth,
7s. 6d. each.

Thes'-Seax) HMtsa Stirring *Story vof- Adventure,

Peril, and Heroism. By F. WHympeEr, Author of “ Travels in
Alaska,” &c. VOL. I., with upwards of 1oo Original Illustrations
executed specially for the Work. Extra crown 4to, cloth, 7s. 6d.

Great Industries of Great Britain.
VoL. I. With about 130 Illustrations. Extra crown 4to, 320 pages,
cloth, 7s. 6d. RAG SIT CTS

Cassell’s New Natural History.
Edited by P. MarTIN DUNCAN, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of
Geology, King’s College, London, assisted by Eminent Scientific
Writers. Illustrated throughout. Vols. I. and II. now ready,
gs. each.

The World of the Sea.

Translated from the French of MOQUIN TANDON, by the Rev.
H. MARTYN-HART, M.A. Illustrated. Cloth, ros. 6d.

Transformations of Insects.
By P. MARTIN DUNCAN, M.D., F.R.S. With 240 highly-finished
Engravings. Mew and Cheaper Edition. Demy 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d.

Cassell Petter & Galpin: Ludgate Hill, London, Paris, and New York.
6

Selections from Cassell Petter & Galpin’s Volumes (Continued ).

The Great Painters of Christendom, from
CIMABUE to WILKIE. By JOHN FORBES-ROBERTSON. Illustrated
throughout with carefully-executed Engravings of the Masterpieces
of the several Painters. Royal 4to, cloth elegant, gilt edges, £3 3s.

“*“ Comprises the history of all that is splendid and admirable in the painter's
art.” — Times.

The Leopold Shakspere.

The Poet’s Works, in Chronological Order, from the Text of
Professor DELIUS, with “Edward the Third” and “The Two
Noble Kinsmen,” and an Introduction by F. J. FURNIVALL. With
about 4oo Illustrations. 1,184 pages. Small 4to, 10s. 6d. Dedi-
cated by permission to H.R.H. PRINCE LEOPOLD.

Royal Quarto Shakespeare.
Edited by CHARLES and Mary COWDEN CLARKE, and contain-
ing about 600 Illustrations by H. C. SELouS. Printed in new
large type on royal 4to paper. Complete in Three Vols., cloth
gilt, gilt edges, £3 3s.; morocco, £6 6s.

The Practical Dictionary of Mechanics.
Containing 15,000 Drawings of Machinery, Instruments, and Tools
in use by every Profession and Trade, with Comprehensive and
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION of each Subject. Complete in Three
Volumes, 2,880 pages, super-royal 8vo, cloth, £3 3s.; half-morocco,

AS Se
The Doré Fine Art Volumes,

Published by CASSELL PETTER & GALPIN, comprise—

55 Ge CL Hh & th
The Doré Scripture Gallery 5 100 | Don Quixote .. : . I 100
The Doré Gallery . - 5 50] La Fontaine’s Fables 5 i LO ©
The Doré Bible . -4 40 | The Wandering Jew . 5 it i ©
Milton’s Paradise Lost 2100 | The Days of Chivalry . 0 10 6
Dante’s Inferno . 2100 | Fairy Tales Told Again .o0 50

Purgatorio and Paradiso . 2 100
*4* Also kept in morocco bindings suitable for Presentation.

Louis Figuier’s Popular Scientific Works.
New and Cheaper Editions, Containing all the Original Illustra-
tions, the TEXT REVISED AND CORRECTED, price 7s. 6d. each :—

The Human Race. Revised by RoBERT WILSON.

Mammalia. Revised by Professor E. PERCEVAL WRIGHT, M.D.
The World Before the Deluge. Revised by W. H. Brisrow, F.R.S.
The Ocean World. Revised by Prof. E. PERCEVAL WricHT, M.D.
Reptiles and Birds. Revised by Captain PARKER GILLMORE.

The Insect World. Revised by Professor DUNCAN, M.D., F.R.S.
The Vegetable World. Revised by an Eminent Botanist.

Cassell Petter & Galpin: Ludgate Hill, London; Paris; and New York,
7

Selections from Cassell Petter & Galpin’s Volumes (Continued).

Shorter English Poems.
By Professor HENRY MORLEY. Being Vol. I. of CASSELL’S
LIBRARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Containing the Leading
Characteristic Shorter Poems of English Literature, from the Earliest
Period to the Present Time, with upwards of 200 Illustrations.
Extra crown 4to, 512 pages, cloth, 12s. 6d.

Illustrations of English Religion.
By PROFESSOR HENRY MorLey. Being Vol. II. of CASSELL’s
LIBRARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. Illustrated throughout with
Engravings from Original MSS., &c. Ex. crown 4to, cloth, 11s. 6d.

English Plays.
By Professor HENRY MoRLEY. Being VOL. III. of THE LIBRARY

OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. With Engravings from Original
MSS., &c. Extra crown 4to, cloth, 11s. 6d.

A First Sketch of English Literature.

By Professor HENRY MORLEY. Crown 8vo, 912 pages, cloth, 7s. 6d.

Dictionary of English Literature.
Being a Comprehensive Guide to English Authors and their Works.
By W. DAVENPORT ADAMS. 720 pages, extra fcap. 4to, cloth, I5s.

Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Giving the Derivation, Source, or Origin of Common Phrases,
Allusions, and Words that have a Tale to Tell. By the Rev.
Dr. BREWER. Demy 8vo, 1,000 pages, cloth, 7s. 6d.

Sketching from Nature in Water-Colours.
By AARON PENLEY. With Illustrations in Chromo-Lithography,
after Original Water-Colour Drawings. Super-royal 4to, cloth, 15s.

Principles of Ornamental Art.
By F. E. HuLMgE, F.L.S., F.S.A., Art Master in Marlborough
College. With over 400 Designs. Royal 4to, cloth, 25s.

Studies in Design.
For Builders, Architects, Designers, House Decorators, and
Manufacturers. By CHRISTOPHER DRESSER, Ph.D., F.L.S., &c.
Consisting of Sixty Original Designs by the Author, accompanied
by Descriptive Letterpress. Demy folio, cloth, £3 3s.

Ges CASSELL PETTER & GALPIN’S COMPLETE CATALOGUE,
containing a List of Several Hundred Volumes, including Bibles and Religious
Works, Fine Art Volumes, Children’s Books, Dictionaries, Educational Works,
Handbooks and Guides, History, Natural History, Household and Domestic
Treatises, Science, Serials, Travels, &c. &c., sent post free on application.

Cassell Petter & Galpin: Ludgate Hill, London ; Paris; and New York.
8

ERNST MAYR LIBRARY

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