Book VII. 



CRITERIA OF THE 15ULL FAMILY. 



1019 



general ; and their beef, though high-coloured, is very well flavoured. I have seen, says Culley, some very 

 useful cattle bred from a cross between an Alderney cow and a short-horned bull. 



6803. The Irish cattle, Cullev thinks, are a mixed breed between the long-horns and the Welsh or 

 Scotch, but more inclined to the long-horns, though of less weight than those in England. 



6804 The last variety of cattle we shall mention is one entirely of luxury, it is the wild breed (Jig. 86.'?.) 

 which is found only in the parks of a few great proprietors, who preserve the animals as curious and 



86(5 



ornamental, or for the sake of their high-flavoured beef. Those kept at Chillingham Castle, in North- 

 umberland, a seat belonging to the Earl of Tankerville, have been very accurately described in the 

 Northumberland Report, and in Culley's book on live stock, so often quoted. Their colour is invariably of 

 a creamy white ; muzzle black ; the whole of the inside of the ear, and about one third ot the outside, 

 from the tips downward, red ; horns white, with black tips, very fine, and bent upwards ; 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-live to thirty-five stone the four quarters (fourteen 

 pounds to the stone). The beef is finely marbled, and of excellent flavour. From the nature ot their 

 pasture, and the frequent agitation they are put into by the curiosity of strangers, it is scarcely to be 

 expected they should get very fat ; yet the six years old oxen are generally very good beef, from which it 

 mav be fairly supposed that, "in proper situations, they would feed well. 



6805 The habits of these animals are entirely rude ; at the first appearance of any person they set ott 

 in full gallop, and at the distance of about two hundred yards, make a wheel round and come boldly up 

 again fossing their heads in a menacing manner; on a sudden they make a full stop, at the distance of 

 forty 'or fifty yards, looking wildly at the object of their surprise, but, upon the least motion being made, 

 they all again turn round, and flv off with equal speed, but not to the same distance, forming a shorter 

 circle, and again returning with a bolder and more threatening aspect than before; they approach 

 much nearer, probably within thirty yards, when thev again make another stand, and again fly otf : this 

 thev do several times, shortening their distance, and advancing nearer and nearer till they come within 

 such a short distance, that most people think it prudent to leave them, not choosing to provoke them 

 farther. . , , .. 



6806 When the cows calve, thev hide their calves for a week or ten days in some sequestred situation, 

 and go and suckle them two or three times a day. If any person comes near them, the calves clap their 

 heads close to the ground, and lie like hares in form, to hide themselves. This is a proof of their native 

 wildness, and is corroborated by the following circumstance that happened to the writer of this narrative 

 (Bailey of Chillingham\ who found a hidden calf, twodays old, very lean and very weak : — On stroking 

 its head it got up, pawed two or three times like an old bull, bellowed very loud, stepped back a few steps, 

 and bolted at his legs with all its force ; it then began to paw again, bellowed, stepped 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 done enough ; the whole herd were alarmed, 

 and, coming to its rescue, obliged him to retire; for the dams will allow no person to touch their calves 

 without attacking him with impetuous ferocity. . j„i.„„ »»,«, u d ,j 



6807. IVhen a calf is to be castrated, the park-keeper marks the place where it is hid, and when the herd 

 are at a distance, takes an assistant with him on horseback; they tie a handkerchief round the calt s 

 mouth to prevent its bellowing, and then perform the operation in the usual way- with as much expe- 

 dition as possible. When any one happens to be wounded, or is grown weak and feeble through age oi 

 sickness, the rest of the herd set upon it and gore it to death. {Cullei/,j>.To.) 



6808. The mode of killins them was, perhaps, the only remains of the grandeur of ancient hunting. 

 On notice being given that a wild bull would be killed on a certain day, the inhabitants of the neigh, 

 bourhood came mounted and armed with guns, &c. sometimes to the amount of a hundred horse, and 

 four or five hundred toot, who stood upon walls or got into trees, while the horsemen rode off the bul 

 from the rest of the herd, until he stood at bay, when a marksman dismounted and shot. At some ot 

 these huntings, twenty or thirty shots have been fired before he was subdued. On such occasions, the 

 bleeding victim grew desperately furious from the smarting of his wounds, and the shouts ot savage joy 

 that were echoing from every side ; but, from the number of accidents that happened, this dangerous 

 mode has been little practised of late years, the park-keeper alone generally shooting them with a rifled 

 gun at one shot. 



Sitbsect. 2. Criteria of Cattle for various objects and purposes. 



*6809. The criteria of a well-made bull, to whatever breed he may belong, are, according ^ Culle >'> as 

 follows: -The head should be rather long, and the muzzle fine; his eyes lively and prominent his ear» 

 long and thin, his horns wide, his neck rising with a gentle curve from the shoulders, and ^small and n i 

 where it joins the head ; the shoulders moderately broad at the top, joining full to his chine or_ crops ana 

 chest backwards, and to the neck-vein forwards ; his bosom open, breast broad, and projecting w en Deioyc. 

 his legs ; his arms or fore-thighs muscular, and tapering to his knee ; his legs straight, clean, ana verj mi« - 

 boned ; his chine and chest so full as to leave no hollows behind the shoulders ; the plates strong, JO Keep 

 his bellv from sinking below the level of his breast ; his back or loin broad, straight, and Hal ; nis nos 

 rising one above another in such a manner that the last rib shall be rather the highest, leawng oni) a 



