6 THE MAMMALS, REPTILES, AND FISHES OF ESSEX. 



Wood in tymes paste was empaled ; and the Erles of 

 Oxenforde in former tymes (for their pleasure) bredd 

 and maintayned wilde Swyne in the same untill the 

 Reigne of King Henry the Eight. About w ch tyme 

 they were destroied by John then Erie of Oxenford, 

 for that he understode that the Inhabitants therabout 

 sustained by them very great Losse and Damage." 



Neither is it intended to give here any lengthy 

 notices of the domestic animals in the county. Yet, 

 since, in other parts of the kingdom, there exist peculiar 

 breeds of such antiquity as almost to appear indi- 

 genous, it may be well to explain briefly why we have 

 none here. Devoid as we are of special districts 

 requiring special varieties of domestic animals, these 

 have not been produced in answer to a want which 

 has never existed. It is true that some of these 

 peculiar breeds have been so altered by crossing that, 

 in the endeavour to meet later methods of agricul- 

 ture, they have lost their original characters ; but the 

 greater number of local breeds are so suited to the 

 individual conditions of their district that it has not 

 been found either desirable or profitable to exchange 

 them for any other, even when a given breed has 

 elsewhere been found more economical or useful. 

 For instance, the generally-useful Shorthorn Ox, with 

 its valuable capacity for early maturity, can never 

 replace the Black Cattle of Pembroke, nor those 



