Wild Cattle of Chillingham Park 283 



the way of their complete identification ; and whether com- 

 parative confinement and in-breeding are sufficient to account 

 for this difference in the Chillingham cattle must be matter of 

 opinion. In other animals they are undoubtedly powerful 

 agents of change and modification, and possibly they may in 

 some measure have lessened the ruggedness of this species. 

 Besides, without questioning the general accuracy of Boethius 

 or Leslie, the characteristic style of the passages would seem 

 fairly to lead us to interpret the statement respecting their 

 leonic manes more by the rule of poetic than of exact zoological 

 description. But if Ave admit (what can scarcely be doubted) 

 that the wild cattle of Drumlanrig were the descendants of the 

 ancient Caledonian breed, this sole obstacle vanishes ; for they 

 had no manes, and their general resemblance to the Chilling- 

 ham race is complete. It is true that in the colour of the 

 ears there is a trifling difference, but this appears to be an oc- 

 casional variety in the species ; for Bewick states that about 

 40 years ago some of those at Chillingham had black ears, 

 that the keeper destroyed them, and that since that period 

 this variation has not recurred. The identity of the Drum- 

 lanrig cattle with those described by Boethius being granted, 

 that of the Chillingham breed can scarcely be denied. 



Upon the whole, we are inclined to believe that the same 

 species of wild cattle prevalent in Scotland had extended to 

 the northern districts of England ; that in proportion as popu- 

 lation and culture advanced, they became here, as in Scotland, 

 the subjects of almost universal slaughter; and that a few of those 

 that escaped had found sanctuary in the great wood of Chil- 

 lingham (as well as in some other ancient forests), where they 

 escaped the fury of their destroyers. The only other tenable 

 hypothesis is, that after the inclosure of the park at Chilling- 

 ham, they had been brought from Scotland and located there 

 as a relic of the ancient Caledonian cattle j but the absence of 

 all tradition and record upon the subject, and the circumstance 

 of a similar breed having been found in places far removed 

 from the Borders, render this supposition less probable than 

 the former. 



In speculations of this nature, when the data are so scanty, 

 we can scarcely expect to arrive at absolute certainty, but suf- 



