SPECIMENS IN THE ZOO 51 



10 guineas each, and sent through Burrell of London to 

 the manager of the Royal Shaw Farm, Windsor. They 

 were used for crossing with a Shorthorn, but they remained 

 so wild and untractable, and the calves were so far from 

 coming up to expectation, that after two years they were 

 fattened and sold to a local butcher. 



No fresh blood has been introduced since the transfer of 

 the ancestors of the herd to North Wales, with the exception 

 of the bull which was got by exchange from the Hamilton 

 herd in I896. 1 The number of calves is an indication that 

 the cows are now normally fertile, although Sir John Orde, 

 writing in June 1887, says that because he believed the herd 

 had slightly declined in fertility, and had deteriorated in bone 

 and horn, he once attempted, but without success, to intro- 

 duce the Hamilton blood through two bulls, which met with 

 accidents, and were incapable. The Vaynol Park cattle are 

 distinctly of the West Highland type, with a substantial, 

 well-formed body on short legs. The horns are of medium 

 length. Though the members of the herd trot a long 

 way off, should any one attempt to come to close quarters 

 with them, they are not nearly so wild as the Chillingham 

 cattle, and make no attempt to escape from the view of 

 people at a distance. These animals are fed with hay during 

 severe weather in winter. No case of warble-fly attack has 

 ever been observed among them. The herd numbered forty 

 at G. W. Duff Assheton-Smith's death in 1904. Indebtedness 

 to V. P. Lort, who up till that time had the white cattle and 

 numerous other unique animals in the park under his charge, 

 is acknowledged for recent information. 



In the end of 1890 a heifer of this breed was captured 

 after considerable difficulty, and sent to the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens in London, where she was mated with 

 a young bull from the Chartley herd. A fine strong bull calf 

 was the first result of this union, perfectly white, with jet- 

 black nose and ears. A. D. Bartlett reported that "both 

 the adults and the calf are wonderfully tame, and will lick or 

 feed from the hand, or allow any one to pat or stroke them 

 without exhibiting fear or anger." 



From 1892 till 1903 inclusive, twelve calves were produced 



1 See a Report by Laisters F. Lort on the Vaynol White Cattle in the 

 Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club, 1898-9, p. 55. 



