WILD WHITE CATTLE. 219 



But our concern is not so much with the origin of the 

 race of wild white cattle, of which a few representative 

 animals still survive, as with the history of the herds 

 which are known to have been preserved in different 

 parts of the country, and of which some half-dozen 

 still exist at the present day. Of these we propose 

 to give some account ; but, before doing so, we may 

 glance briefly at the historical notices of the existence 

 of wild cattle in England and Scotland which ha.ve 

 been preserved to us in the works of various his- 

 torians, antiquaries, and naturalists. On looking 

 over the plates of British coins figured by Camden 

 in his " Britannia" (vol. i. p. Ixv.) we were struck by 

 a coin of Cunobelin (fig. 1 3) bearing on the obverse 

 a head of this king, and on the reverse a really 

 characteristic figure, as we take it, of a wild bull an 

 animal which was no doubt frequently hunted by the 

 early rulers of Britain. 



COIN Oi' CUNOBELIN. 



Some indication of the existence of wild cattle 

 in Saxon times is furnished in the celebrated 

 traditionary legend of the slaughter of the wild 

 cow by Guy Earl of Warwick, which is said to 

 have taken place in the days of King Athelstan 

 (A.D. 925-941). The ballad, "Sir Guy of War- 

 wick," is given in Ritson's " Ancient Songs and 



