Wild Cattle 107 



have made us familiar, and there is no need to describe 

 again the pure white coats and those heads which 

 with their bold upward-curving horns, alert glowing 

 eyes, and black muzzles, seem the very incarnation 

 of wild, shy energy and beauty. Nor is it necessary 

 to rediscuss their origin, as it is still a moot question 

 whether they are descended from a native breed of 

 white cattle a view taken by Mr. Darwin or sprang 

 from progenitors imported at some almost prehistoric 

 period. Local tradition settles the question very 

 summarily, for it says they appeared on the scene 

 miraculously. When the sun went down there was 

 not stech a thing in the park ; when it rose they were 

 roaming among the trees and over the rough hills. 

 An aged keeper who was here over thirty years, and 

 who, coming originally from the neighbourhood of 

 Kingussie, places small faith in Northumbrian folk- 

 lore, has by his scepticism done much to dissipate this 

 superstition. 



It is the extreme wildness of the creatures, how- 

 ever, which is their most interesting characteristic. 

 Theirs is an entirely undomesticated nature. For 

 instance, if a calf which has been concealed by its 

 mother in a thicket is surprised by a visitor, it does 

 not, as a farm one inevitably would, make a vain 

 attempt to fly, but drops like a stone and crouches 

 among the fern as a hare does in its form, as a rabbit 

 will do if you are between him and his burrow, as a 

 young pewit will do among the grey stones of the 



