WILD WHITE CATILE. 223 
and, though in other respects they much resembled 
domestic cattle, they were still so wild and un- 
tamable, and so fearful of the approach of man, that 
they even fled from any grass, trees, or fruit that 
had been touched by him. 
This account has been copied, or at least fol- 
lowed by Paulus Jovius,* Gesner,t Bishop Leslie,{ 
Aldrovandus,§ Jonston,|| and many other writers 
much nearer to our own time. 
That it was to some extent exaggerated there can 
be no doubt ; and it is not surprising that Sir Robert 
Sibbald, in his “Scotia Illustrata” (1684), should 
have expressed the opinion that it ‘wanted con- 
firmation.” Not that the existence of wild cattle in 
Scotland was questioned, but only that they pre- 
sented the appearance which was ascribed to them 
by Boethius. 
From causes readily understood, wild cattle held 
their ground longer, and continued in a truly wild 
state later, in Scotland than in any other part of 
Great Britain. As civilization spread from the south, 
forests became partly cleared, partly converted into 
parks, and waste lands were gradually drained and 
cultivated. Wild animals became either exter- 
minated, like the wolf and the boar, or, like the 
white cattle, were driven further north to their last 
strongholds. As the population increased, game 
* “ Descriptio Britannia, Scotia, Hiberniz, et Orcadum,” 1548. 
+ “ Historia Animalium,” 1551. 
£ “De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus Gestis Scotorum, 1578. 
§ “Quadrupedum Omnium Bisulcorum Historia,” 1632. 
|| “ Historia Naturalis de Quadrupedibus, 1657. 
