32 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



such as the Lincolnshire, the Romney Marsh, the Cotswold, the 

 Devonshire, the Notts and the Long-Woolled Irish breeds. They 

 are all of large size, destitute of horns in both sexes, and bear long 

 wool, which, while unsuitable for felting, is eminently adapted for 

 the manufacture of worsted yarn." 



Before finally leaving the subject now under review it is useful 

 to notice that from the latest statistics before us we learn that there 

 are now in Australia over sixty million Sheep; in New Zealand 

 (which only received its first one as recently as 1840) there are twenty 

 millions ; in the Argentine Republic there are over seventy million 

 Sheep, whilst on the great Continents of America and Africa the 

 number must be very large, and of those bred the Merino appears 

 to be the general favourite. Truly, as one writer says, "it can 

 readily be seen how wool and mutton form no inconsiderable share 

 of the wealth of our kindred across the seas, wealth more assured 

 and enduring than even the gold that has been mined under the 

 Southern Cross." 



THE AUROCHS AND DOMESTIC OXEN.— Like the Sheep, the 

 so-called Wild White Cattle of to-day — represented in our photo- 

 graphs by the English Wild Bull (Fig. 23) — are descended from 

 animals whose pedigree is shrouded in the mist of ages. The Wild 

 Ox of Europe no longer holds a place in our fauna. This massive 

 beast, which the all-conquering Caesar described as being little 

 inferior to the Elephant in size, is extinct, and although our present 

 herds are no doubt very indirectly descended from the great beast 

 which roamed about in Julius Caesar's time, the half-wild cattle found 

 in herds in a few British parks to-day have degenerated a good deal 

 as the result of comparative confinement and in-breeding. 



Yet the few herds that are preserved by the Duke of Bedford, 

 and at Chillingham Park, Northumberland, and elsewhere, enable 

 us to comprehend to better advantage the immensity of the pure wild 

 creature of former times, and also supply us with an interesting link 

 as to the ancestry of our own domestic cattle. 



As our photograph of an English Wild Bull depicts, the beast 

 has a pair of horns which occupy a prominent position on the summit 

 of the forehead, and whilst those possessed by the specimen shown are 

 fairly straight, the Aurochs was, and the semi-wild and domesticated 

 cattle of Europe are, noticeable for the circular horns on the top of 

 the skull. The Wild Ox still left to us presents several interesting 

 features of note, for it varies in many ways from the more domesti- 



