CLASS I. MAMMALIA.: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 



501 



~«^^52«sv^-»v v^.jXrr;. 



DURHAM BULL. 



CONTINENTAL CATTLE. 



Every nation of Europe has its particular breeds of cattle. France has several, well recognized 

 in that country. Among them are those of Normandy, many of which have been imported into 

 England, the stock being called Aldcrney Cattle ; there are also in France the Cantal breed, 

 the Limousin, the Gascon, the Nivernais, &c. The island of Camargue, formed between the two 

 mouths of the Rhone, and which is twenty-six miles long and eleven wide, is covered with marshes, 

 abounding not only in game, but horses and cattle of fine breeds. These live almost in a wild 

 state. The latter are of moderate size, the horns rather short, and the color black. It is often 

 dangerous for man to meet with them ; the cows are as fierce as the bulls ; they hide themselves 

 with the greatest care from the observation of man. The inhabitants of Marseilles and other 

 towns of France employ the bulls for bull-fights. 



Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Italy, and Russia, have their 

 several breeds of cattle, each distinguished by particular qualities. In several of these countries 

 there are herds which have been permitted to breed in the forests and marshes without the in- 

 tervention of man, and which are, accordingly, almost as wild and savage as the original tenants 

 of the woods. In the extensive forests of Spain and Portugal cattle of this kind are numerous ; 

 they fly from man unless attacked, in which case they turn upon their enemy and make a furious 

 charge, which not unfrequently proves fatal. The bulls of these herds are driven into inclosures 

 by large parties of horsemen skilled in this species of hunt; they are then taken to the amphi- 

 theaters, where they are employed for the bull-fights. The bulls of particular districts have a 

 high reputation for fierceness, and when one of them is announced at the spectacle, like a "Star" at 

 a theater, he draws a large and excited circle of spectators. 



In Italy there are similar breeds of wild cattle, especially in the Ma.remma. This is a flat strip 

 'of land, extending on the western side of Italy, from Genoa to Calabria,-a distance of six hundred 

 miles, except only that it is interrupted in a few places by hills. It reaches from the shores of 

 the Mediterranean to the lower bases of the Apennines, and is from two to twenty miles in width. 

 The land is fertile in the extreme, but over the whole a pestilental vapor prevails in summer, 

 'which makes it unfit for the abode of man. A few patches only are cultivated - the rest is 



