222 WILD WHITE CATILE. 
shire, about the year 1200, had its “fierce wild 
cattle.”* 
Speed tells ust that Maud de Breos, in order to 
appease King John, whom her husband had offended, 
sent to his queen a present from Brecknockshire of 
four hundred cows and a bull, all white with red ears. 
Whether this was the usual colour of the ancient 
breed of Welsh and British cattle, or a rare variety, 
esteemed on account of its beauty, and chiefly pre- 
served in the parks of the nobles, cannot be deter- 
mined with certainty. It is, perhaps, more natural 
to suppose that they were all domesticated, and not 
wild cattle. In later records, however, wild cattle 
are particularly referred to by this name. “Six 
wylde bulls,” are included in the bill of fare on the 
occasion of the feast given at the installation of 
George Nevill, Archbishop of York, in 1466.” 
Hector Boece(Boethius), who was a contemporary of 
Leland, and who published his ‘“ Scotorum Historie, 
i prima Gentis Origine,’ in 1526, has often been 
quoted to prove the former existence of wild white 
cattle in Scotland.§ His statement is to the effect 
that in the great Caledonian wood, which covered a 
great tract of country, running through Monteith and 
Strathearn, as far as Athole and Lochaber, there were 
bulls of the purest white, having manes like lions; 
* Walbran, “ Memorials of the Abbey of St. Mary of Fountains” 
(Surtees Society, vol. xliii.). 
+ Speed, “ History of Great Britaine,” folio, 1611. 
t Leland, ‘ Collectanea” (ed. Hearne), vi., p. 2. 
§ This work was translated into the Scottish vernacular by John 
Bellenden, Archdeacon of Moray, in 1553, and into English by Raphael 
Holinshed in 1585. 
