CHILLINGHAM WHITE CATTLE. 145 



ing their distance, and approaching nearer, till they come 

 within a few yards, when most people think it prudent to 

 leave them." 



In the instance in which I had an opportunity of 

 witnessing their method of receiving visitors, the fashion 

 was somewhat different. The park-keeper who accom- 

 panied me described, as we rode through the park in 

 quest of them, what would be their mode of procedure on 

 our approach. This he did from observations so repeatedly 

 made, as to warrant him in saying that it was their in- 

 variable mode. It was perfectly simple, and I found it 

 precisely as he had described it. When we came in sight 

 of them, they were tranquilly ruminating under a clump 

 of shady trees, some of the herd standing, others lying. 

 On their first observing us, those that were lying rose up, 

 and they all then began to move slowly away, not exactly 

 to a greater distance from us, but in the direction of a 

 thickly wooded part of the park, which was as distant on 

 our left as the herd was on our right. To reach this 

 wooded part they had to pass over some elevated ground. 

 They continued to walk at a gradually accelerating pace, 

 till they gained the most elevated part, when they broke 

 out into a trot, then into a canter, which at last gave way 

 to a full gallop, a sort of " devil-take-the-hindmost" race, 

 by which they speedily buried themselves in the thickest 

 recesses of the wood. What they may have done in Mr. 

 Culley's time, we must take upon that gentleman's word; 

 but at present, and for so long as the present park-keeper 

 can recollect, they have never been in the habit of 

 describing those curious concentric circles of which Mr. 

 Culley makes mention in the last quotation. 



The late mode of killing them is described as " perhaps 



10 



