614 CrCLOPEDlA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



compare better in size with the modem ox, than did the ancient 

 horse, or our modern semi-wild, horses, with the great draft horse of 

 to-day. 



That there once existed species of cattle in some pre-historic age, mon, 

 strous as compared with ours, there is no doubt. Youatt, in his history 

 of British cattle, says that in nlmost every part of the Continent, and 

 in every district of England, skulls, evidently belonging to cattle, have 

 been found, far exceeding in bulk any now known. There is a fine spec- 

 imen in the British Museum : the peculiarity of the horns, resembles 

 smaller ones dug up in the mines of Cornwall. The two plates given 

 illustrate two remains of fossil skulls, of })rehistoric times, gigantic in 

 structure; that of Primagenius supposed to have been of a species from 

 which our modern cattle have descended. 



XrV. The Wild Cattle of England. 



Of the wild cattle Kept in Engiana on the estates of the Duke of Ham* 

 ilton, and the Earl of Tankerville, known in his day, the same authority 

 says : 



"The wild breed, from being untamable, can only be kept within walls, 

 or good fences ; consequently, very few of them are now to be met with, 

 except in the parks of some gentlemen, who keep them for ornament, 

 and as a curiosity. Their color is invariably white, muzzle black; the 

 Avhole of the inside of the ear, and about one-third of the outside, from 

 the tips downward, red ; horns, white, Avith black tips, very fine, and 

 bent upward ; some of the bulls have a thin, upright mane, about an inch 

 and a half or two inches long. The weight of the oxen is from thirty- 

 five to forty-five stone, and the cows from twenty-five to thirty-five stone, 

 the four quarters (fourteen pound to the stone). The beef is finely 

 marbled and of excellent flavor. The six year old oxen are generally 

 very good beef ; whence it may be fairly supposed that, in proper situa- 

 tions, they would feed well. 



"At the first appearance of any person they set off in full gallop, and, 

 at the distance of about two hundred yards, make a wheel rouud, and 

 come boldly up again in a menacing manner ; on a sudden they make a 

 full stop at the distance of forty or fifty yards, looking Avildly at the 

 object of their surprise ; but upon the least motion they all again turn 

 round, and fly off with equal speed, but not to the same distance, form- 

 ing a shorter circle, and again returning with a more threatening 

 aspect tlian before ; they approach probably within thirty yards, when 

 they again make another stand, and then fly off ; this they do several 

 times, shortening their distance, and advancing nearer and nearer, till they 

 come WMthin such a short distance that most people think it prudent to 

 leave them. 



