WHITE CATTLE : AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR ORIGIN, ETC. 221 



mediaeval magnates." Mr. Turner, in bis paper, limits himself to 

 the Cadzow Forest herd of -white cattle. He says that "the 

 popular exaggeration that they are a distinct and untamable race 

 has grown out of the eagerness of human nature after the unique. 

 A Bos or Urus scoticus would be a singularity of much patriotic 

 significance." Of course, Scotchmen are pleased when they find, 

 for example, Mr. E. L. Trousessart, in his article "Bceuf" in 

 La Grande Encyclopedie, now in course of publication, giving, as 

 an illustration of white cattle, the "crane de Boeuf des pares 

 d'Ecosse." For my part,- 1 rather doubt the reliability of French 

 authorities, when I find that they state that these cattle — " Race 

 blanche des forets " — are preserved by the Duke of Sutherland in 

 a park 480,000 hectares, or about 960,000 acres in extent.^ 

 Regarding the Cadzow cattle [PI. V.], Mr. Turner writes, "what 

 peculiarly wild habits are there ? I see only frightened animals, 

 maternal instinct, and human savagery. Beyond shyness and 

 watchfulness, none of the habits of the cattle strikes me as in anv wav 

 other than to be expected in animals not thoroughly domesticated." 

 " As to the origin of these white cattle," he further says, " I hold 

 from their habits that we are not warranted in concluding that 

 thev are trulv wild animals. The tamest animals, if left to them- 

 selves, revert in a few generations to a wild state. The relapsed 

 herds of cattle, originating in strayed domestic animals, present, 

 in some countries, a case in point, and in wild instincts and habits 

 far out-do our British white cattle." Mr. Turner concludes his 

 paper as follows : — " I think, however, that it may be taken as 

 established that these white cattle have been about Cadzow from 

 verv remote times with an occasional break and reintroduction ; 

 that they are a fancy breed artificially preserved in a half-wild 

 state : that thev are descendants of a formerlv domesticated race ; 



^Another French writer, Professor Sanson, in the article " Ecossaise 

 (Zootechnie) '' in Barral's Dictionnaire d^ Agriculture, states that we have 

 three varieties of cattle. First, the "West Highland;" secondty, the 

 " Kiloe ;" and then " La troisieme, qui vit dans le pare de Shilligham, au 

 due de Sutherland, pour en faire seulement I'ornement comme objet de 

 curiosite aristocratique, est ce qu'on appelle en Angleterre la race blanche 

 d^s forets. Un specimen empaille est expose au British iSIuseum de 

 Londres. II n'y a pas lieu de s'en occuper autrement que pour la signaler 

 ici, son utilite zootechnique etant nulle." 



