
WHITE CATTLE: AN INQUIRY INTO THEIR: ORIGIN, ETC. 241 
of the white park cattle show that the Urus (Bos primigenius) 
could not have been their ancestor. First, because the horns 
of our white herds are not all the same: those of the 
Chartley herd, for example, differ very materially from those 
of the Chillingham. Again, the Urus horns are very long 
and curved, first forward and downwards, and only upturned at 
the end. They curved forward in the plane of the animal's back. 
The horns of our white cattle are, like those of Roman oxen, 
ancient and modern, upright and upturned, lying approximately 
in the plane of the occipital region—sometimes called mooney or 
lyre shaped.1_ The two patterns of horns are shown if we hold a 
pitchfork, first horizontally, as if lying on an animal’s back—the 
Urus type—and then vertically, as if at the side of the head—the 
white park cattle type. The Urus may have affected some of our 
other breeds of cattle, other than the white park cattle, and then 
only at second hand. through importations of long-horned German 
cattle. The larger breeds of cattle begin to appear, in many cases, 
from the Saxon invasion, most probably because the Saxons im- 
ported oxen from their old homes between the mouth of the 
Rhine and Jutland. Some of our domestic cattle have shown 
the Urus type. . For instance, Dickenson, writing in 1852 on the 
“Farming of Cumberland,” says :—‘¢ Within living memory the 
cattle in Bewcastle, Stapleton, Kirkandrews, Alston. and the 
neighbouring parishes were of the long-horned breed, and chiefly 
of dark colours, such as blacks, browns, and dark reds (the last 
colour most prevalent), with the distinctive white backs.” Here 
we have the Urus markings—long horns, dark colour, and white 
back; but I do not know if any one claimed them to be 
indigenous descendants of the Bos primigenius. Now, in Sand- 


1 The Chartley cattle, which are said to have been enclosed 650 years ago 
from the Forest of Needwood, are essentially Longhorns, and have a very 
distinct dewlap. A writer in the Field says—‘‘ The Chartley type of head 
varies much from that at Chillingham, and shows a tendency towards the 
old breed from which Bakewell developed his Longhorns. The Cadzow 
head is far less distinct than either of these two, more common, with 
greater affinity to domesticated specimens.” The cattle at Lyme Park, 
Cheshire (Figs. 11 and 12), were more strongly longhorned than the 
Chartley cattle, and like the ancient spiral-horned Emilian and Umbrian 
breed. These longhorned white cattle may have a cross of the German 
Longhorns in them. 
