12 CATTLE. 



dangerous to the inhabitants of the neighboring districts. One of 

 the chronicles informs us, that many of them harbored in the forests 

 in the neighborhood of the metropohs. Strange stories are told of some 

 of them, and doubtless, when irritated, they were fierce and dangerous 

 enough. As, however, civilization advanced, and the forests became 

 thinned and contracted, these animals were seldomer seen, and at 

 length almost disappeared. A few of them yet remain in Chatel- 

 herault Park, belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, in Lanarkshire ; 

 and in the park of Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, the seat 

 of the Earl of Tankerville. 



The wild breed, from being untameable, 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 whole of the inside of the ear, and about one-third of the 

 outside, from the tips downward, red ; horns, white, with 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 generall}^ very good beef ; whence it may be 

 fairly supposed that, in proper situations, 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 

 round, and come boldly up again in a menacing manner ; on a sud- 

 den they make a full stop at the distance of forty or fifty yards, look- 

 ing w^ildly 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, forming a shorter circle, and again returning with 

 a more threatening aspect than 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 Avithin such a short dis- 

 tance that most people think it prudent to leave them. 



When the cows calve, they hide their calves for a week or ten 

 days in some sequestered situation, and go and suckle them two or 

 three times a day. If any person come near the calves, they clap 

 their heads close to the ground, to hide tliemselves : this is a proof 

 of their native wildness. 



The dams aHow no person to touch their calves, without attacking 

 them with impetuous ferocity. When any one happens to be 

 wounded, or is grown weak and feeble through age or sickness, the 

 rest of the herd set on it and gore it to death. 



The breeds of cattle, as they are now found in Great Britain, are 

 almost as various as the soil of the different districts, or the fancie* 



