WHITE FOREST BREED. Ill 



white cattle were just extinct in the central High- 

 lands. 27 In 1598 their occurrence in Scotland was 

 confined to a few localities. 28 We are thus par- 

 ticular in tracing the accounts of this breed, as 

 Wilson maintains that no sufficient evidence has ever 

 been brought forward to prove that these cattle are 

 entitled to the character of an aboriginal breed. 29 

 Of the remnants of this ancient race we have two 

 herds, at least, existing at the present time, and 

 records of others whose extinction has been com- 

 paratively recent. The general descriptions of white 

 with colored ears apply to all, yet each herd has 

 had its distinctive features, and we find evidence 

 of a constant tendency to variation, only repressed 

 by a rigorous selection. 



Chillingham Castle, the seat of the Earl of Tanker- 

 ville, is situated in Northumberland County, England, 

 and formerly occupied one end of the Caledonian 

 Forest, which in former times extended from sea to 

 sea. The wild cattle have been preserved in this 

 park with care, and kept free from intermixture with 

 other breeds. They have been extensively inbred 

 from necessity, "and are accordingly much subject 

 to rash, a complaint common to animals bred in and 

 in." According to Denholm, they were exterminated 

 in 1760. " Here (Cadzow Castle) so late as the 

 year 1760 were a few of those white cattle with black 

 or brown ears and muzzles, once so common in Scot- 

 land. Their shyness and ferocity of temper rendered 



2? Trans. H. & Ag. Soc. 4th series, v, 294. Low's Animals, 234. 

 *> Enc. Brit, xiv, 214. 



