138 Quadrupeds. 



they approach much nearer, when they make another 

 stand, and again gallop off. This they do several times, 

 shortening their distance, and advancing nearer till they 

 come within a few yards, when most persons consider it 

 prudent to leave them, not choosing to provoke them 

 further, as it is probable that in a few turns more they 

 would make an attack. 



The mode of killing these animals, as was practised a 

 few years ago, was the only remnant of the ancient mode 

 of hunting that existed in this country. On notice being 

 given that a Wild Bull would be killed on a certain day, 

 the inhabitants of the neighbourhood assembled, some- 

 times to the number of a hundred horsemen, and four or 

 five hundred foot, all armed with guns or other weapons. 

 Those on foot stood upon the walls, or climbed into trees, 

 while the horsemen separated a Bull from the rest of the 

 herd, and chased him until he stood at bay, when they 

 dismounted and fired. At some of these huntings, 

 twenty or thirty shots have been discharged before the 

 animal was subdued. On such occasions the bleeding 

 victim grew desperately furious from the smarting of 

 his wounds, and the shouts of savage joy echoing from 

 every side. 



When the Cows calve, they hide their young ones for 

 a week or ten days in some sequestered retreat, and go to 

 suckle them two or three times in a day. If any person 

 comes near one of the calves it crouches close upon the 

 ground, and endeavours to hide itself, a proof of the 

 native wildness of the animals. In one instance where 

 a calf was disturbed, it pawed the ground like an old 

 Bull, and attempted to butt with its head, till it fell from 

 weakness. It had done enough, how r ever, to raise an 

 alarm, and the whole herd came to its rescue, compelling 

 the intruder to decamp ; for the dams will allow no one 

 to touch their young without attacking him with impe- 

 tuosity. In the Duke of Hamilton's park, in the summer 

 of 1841, a calf, which was disturbed by the passing of 

 a carriage near it, bellowed so fearfully as to rouse the 

 whole herd, though they were at a considerable distance. 



