124 BIRDS AND POETS 
“a case like this will often occur: No. 1 will whip 
No. 2; No. 2 whips No. 3; and No. 3 whips No. 
1; so around inacircle. This is not a mistake; it 
is often the case. JI remember,” he continued, “‘we 
once had feeding out of a large bin in the centre of 
the yard six oxen who mastered right through in 
succession from No. 1 to No. 6; but No. 6 paid 
off the score by whipping No. 1. I often watched 
them when they were all trying to feed out of the 
box, and of course trying, dog-in-the-manger fash- 
ion, each to prevent any other she could. They 
would often get in the order to do it very system- 
atically, since they could keep rotating about the 
box till the chain happened to get broken some- 
where, when there would be confusion. Their mas- 
tership, you know, like that between nations, is 
constantly changing. There are always Napoleons 
who hold their own through many vicissitudes; but 
the ordinary cow is continually liable to lose her 
foothold. Some cow she has always despised, and 
has often sent tossing across the yard at her horns’ 
ends, some pleasant morning will return the compli- 
ment and pay off old scores.” 
But my own observation has been that, in herds 
in which there have been no important changes for 
several years, the question of might gets pretty well 
settled, and some one cow becomes the acknowledged 
ruler. 
The bully of the yard is never the master, but 
usually a second or third rate pusher that never 
loses an opportunity to hook those beneath her, or 
