The English Wild Bull. 57 



back, and bolted as before; but, knowing its 

 intention, and stepping aside, it missed him, fell, 

 and was so very weak that it could not rise, 

 though it made several efforts. But it had doue 

 enough; the herd were alarmed, and, coming to 

 its rescue, obliged him to retire. 3 '' 



Another point of distinction between the wild 

 and domestic cattle is that the former feed in 

 herds, while the latter scatter widely while feeding. 

 No doubt this habit of the wild cattle is necessary 

 for their protection. If disturbed, they attack in 

 a body, and, forming into line, they advance upon 

 the intruder " until they come within ten yards, 

 when most people think it prudent to leave them, 

 not choosing to provoke them further." All 

 accounts agree that there are few more dangerous 

 animals than one of these bulls when wounded, 

 and numberless stories ars told of their ferocity. 

 The method of killing them adopted in old days 

 seems to have been both clumsy and barbarous : 

 and though, no doubt, sufficiently exciting, was 

 decidedly unsportsmanlike, and the so-called 

 marksmen must "certainly have been wanting in 

 skill, though Bewick tells us that "it was perhaps 

 the only modern remains of the grandeur of 

 ancient hunting." His account of the performance 

 is as follows : " On notice being given that a 

 wild bull would be killed on a certain day, the 

 inhabitants of the neighbourhood came mounted 

 and armed with guns, &c., and sometimes to the 

 amount of a hundred horse and four or five 



