300 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



instance, in 1866, Prof. Dawkins wrote as follows: 

 "The half-wild oxen of Chillingham Park, in Northumber- 

 land, and other places in northern and central Britain, 

 are probably the last surviving representatives of the 

 gigantic urus of the Pleistocene period, reduced in size 

 and modified in every respect by their small range and 

 their contact with men." 



When this was penned, it is only fair to state, the fact 

 that the colour of the aurochs was black does not appear 

 to have been known to the writer ; neither was it then 

 generally recognised that the park cattle (which are always 

 white) are semi-albinoes. Such semi-albinism is always 

 the result of domestication, as is mentioned in Bell's 

 " British Quadrupeds," and could not have arisen in the 

 wild state. Moreover, the park cattle display evidence of 

 their descent from dark-coloured breeds by the retention 

 of red or black ears and brown or black muzzles. In the 

 Chillingham cattle the ears are generally red, although 

 sometimes (probably as the result of crossing) black, and 

 the muzzle brown; while in the breed at Cadzow Park, 

 Lanarkshire, both ears and muzzle are deep black, and 

 there are usually flecks of black on the head and fore- 

 quarters. It is further significant that, in the Chillingham 

 herd at any rate, dark-coloured calves, which are weeded 

 out by the keepers, make their appearance from time to 

 time. 



Now, it is a remarkable fact that when the black Pem- 

 broke breed of domesticated cattle tends to albinism, the 

 ears and muzzle, and more rarely the fetlocks, remain 

 completely black or very dark grey, although the colour 

 elsewhere is whitish, more or less profusely flecked and 

 blotched with pale grey. In the shape and curvature of 

 the horns, which at first incline outwards and forwards, 



