Aurochs 



13 



huve the muzzle and tlie inside at the ears reddish, whereas in the Cadzow 

 breed the same parts are hhick. In other European breeds various shades 

 of dun, fawn, and red, as well as black, are commonly met with ; and as 

 red or tawn is a less specialised type of coloration than black, it might 

 well have been thought that one of these was the predominant tint of 

 the aurochs. According, however, to the authors already referred to, 

 Herberstain's woodcut and another ancient picture show that the ancient 

 wild ox of Europe was black. If this is to be depended on, the reds and 

 duns ot our domesticated breeds must apparently be regarded as a reversion 

 to tlie coloration ot some older race. 



Like the bison, the aurochs is known to have been common in the 

 Black Forest in the time of Julius Ca'sar ; and was of course still more 

 widely spread in earlier years. In Britain its remains, as already mentioned, 

 occur in deposits as late as those of the fen districts, but none have hitherto 

 been identified in those dating from or subsequent to the time of the 

 Roman occupation, when it would accordingly appear to have become 

 exterminated in England. 



Little more can be added with regard to the characteristics of the wild 

 aurochs, except that it must have been a huge animal, probably standing 

 at least six feet high at the shoulders, and with horns not very unlike those 

 of the modern Chillingham cattle, only very much larger. The horns 

 usually have an outward and forward curvature at first, alter which they 

 bend somewhat upwards and inwards. The following are the dimensions 

 of the horn-cores of some of the splendid specimens collected by the late 

 Sir A. Brady from the brick -earth of Ilford, and now in the British 

 Museum : — 



Museum Number '^""^^^ "'""^ ^. ^"'''' Tip to Tip. 



muSLum iNumoer. Outc-r Curve. Clrcumterence. ^ ^ 



45.424 36 17 28 



45.425 .? 16.5 ? 



45^426 3« 17-5 30 



45>427 38 19 34 



