RESEMBLANCE TO BOS URUS 29 



that of the tame ox, but each bone, in proportion to the length, 

 more slender and thin." 



A black race of semi-wild cattle, believed to be longifrons, 

 at one time existed in Cornwall. 



There is a strong presumption that the ancient forest 

 cattle, the descendants of the Bos urus y were the immediate 

 progenitors of the wild park cattle of the present time, and 

 also of the many herds which in comparatively recent years 

 existed in various parts of the United Kingdom. 



The herd at Burton Constable in Yorkshire, which 

 Bewick records to have been extinct a few years before 1790, 

 were much larger than the Chillingham cattle, " many of them 

 weighing 60 stones." And the extinct Lyme Park cattle, 

 Cheshire, were reported to be 



" larger than any breed of cattle now existing in the country ; 

 higher on the legs, more upstanding, and longer in the body 

 very large cattle, with strong bones, much substance, and a 

 large amount of flesh about the neck and dewlap. They had 

 abundance of long, rough hair, which in the male was very 

 fully developed, curly and mane-like on the head and fore- 

 quarters ; and the hide was of immense thickness. They were 

 very grand and symmetrical in appearance, and their move- 

 ments were distinguished by a peculiar majestic stateliness." 



This description gives a very credible picture of what 

 might very well be the direct descendant of the gigantic wild 

 white bull of Caesar's time, and of the monstrous bovine 

 wonders of the palaeolithic and neolithic ages, when, as we 

 have ample evidence to show, Bos urus was contemporary 

 with man, though not as a domestic animal. 



What appears to be, from internal evidence, a most reliable 

 notice of the appearance and character of the great Cale- 

 donian Forest bull about the time of his disappearance from 

 the open forests of the North is Bishop Leslie's description 

 quoted in Robertson's History of Scotland : 



" In Caledonia there was formerly common, but now more 

 rare, a kind of forest bull, which, of the purest white in colour, 

 carries a mane, thick and hanging down, like that of a lion. 

 It is fierce and savage, abhors the human race ; and anything 

 that man has either touched or breathed upon, for many days 

 it altogether avoids. 1 Besides this, so great was the audacity of 



1 Chartley cows are reported by their keeper to desert their calves if 

 these are handled immediately after being dropped. 



