1923- ScHARFF — On the Origin of the Irish Cattle. yi 



lively modern one. They are large cattle with relatively 

 short horns specially fitted by their early maturity for the 

 supply of butchers' meat. 



There are certain Irish place-names, like " Inishbofin," 

 meaning the island of the white cow, and Lake Bo fin, 

 which seem to imply the former existence in this country of 

 white cattle. The survival in Great Britain of several 

 herds of white cattle from very remote times has given rise 

 to a great deal of discussion as to their origin. Although 

 now confined in large parks, they were formerl}/ allowed to 

 roam about freely in a nearty wild condition, and some 

 authorities still maintain that they were the direct de- 

 scendants of truly wild cattle. The white cattle in these 

 parks are not all of the same kind. The most famous herd 

 is that of Chillingham, in Northumberland. These cattle 

 are small, with rough white hair and short upwardly- 

 directed horns, while the Chartley herd has long wide- 

 spreading horns. In the Cadzow herd the cows are hornless. 

 There are many minor differences among the various 

 herds. Some of these cattle exhibit a strong tendency to 

 produce black calves, and these are of course always weeded 

 out. Hence Lydekker suggests that all these herds of white 

 cattle had originally descended from a black stock. This 

 view seems more plausible than that put forward by Prof. 

 Hughes and accepted by Wilson, that the white cattle are 

 descended from an Italian stock introduced by the Romans. 

 Cattle similar to the Chillingham breed certainly appear 

 to have existed in Great Britain in Roman times, for Meek 

 and Gray, who conducted the examinations of the Roman 

 site at Corstorpitum, described the remains of an apparently 

 wild ox {Bos sylvestris), of which the Uving representative 

 is stated by them to be the Chillingham.- Although there 

 is no direct evidence of the former existence in Ireland of 

 similar herds of white cattle, it is quite possible that some 

 examples may have been imported from England or Scot- 

 land. That importations of cattle from Great Britain and 

 abroad took place before the tenth century may also be 



2 Meek, A., and R. A. H. Gray : Report of the excavations at Corspor- 

 p'itum. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 191 1. 



