L .,; (; CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



Ulysses tells Eurymachus of 



" Yoked oxen of the noblest breed, sleek -haired, 

 Big-limbed, both battened to the full with grass; 

 Their age and aptitude for work the tame, 

 Not sooii to be fatigued;" 



and we can easily realise the bulk of the animals he describes. Other particulars may, however, be 

 added. Self-colour is regarded as one characteristic of a race of cattle, and such were those of antiquity. 

 The bull which escaped from Mercury, when only three days' old he started on a foray to drive Apollo's 

 cows, was icimvfoj, probably black ; but whatever the exact shades, certainly self-coloured. Virgil appears to 

 be the only classical author who has a toleration for motley; and even the line in which he indicates it* 

 seems to show the prevalence of self-colours, and that the variety which he mentions was not in very 

 general favour. Wide horns and lofty horns are constant epithets applied to cattle in the Greek 

 authors. 



According to Mr. Culley, who has given us a somewhat highly-coloured account of the Chillingham 

 wild cattle, their colour is invariably of a creamy white ; muzzle, black ; the whole of the inside of the 

 ear, and about one-third of the outside, from the tips downwards, 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. At the first appearance of any person they set off in full gallop, and, at the distance 

 of two or three hundred yards, make a wheel round, and come boldly up again, tossing 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, on the least motion being made, they all again turn round 

 and fly off with equal speed, but not to the same distance. Forming a shorter circle, and again return- 

 ing with a bolder and more threatening aspect than before, they, approach much nearer, probably 

 within thirty yards, when they make another stand, and again fly off : this they do several times, 

 shortening their distance and advancing nearer, till they come within ten yards, when most people 

 think it prudent to leave them, not choosing to provoke them further ; for there is but little doubt that 

 in two or three turns more they would make an attack. 



The mode of killing 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 neighbour- 

 hood came round with guns, &c., sometimes to the number of a hundred horse, and four or five hundred 

 foot, who stood upon walls, or got into trees, while the horsemen rode off the bull from the rest of the 

 herd, until he stood at bay, when a marksman dismounted and shot him. At some of 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 of savage joy that were 

 echoing from eveiy side ; but, from the number of accidents that happened, this dangerous mode has 

 been little practised of late years the park-keeper alone generally killing them with a rifled gun at 

 one shot. 



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, and lie like a hare in form, to hide themselves : this is a proof of their 

 native wildness, and is corroborated by the following fact, which occurred to Mr. Culley. He found a 

 hidden calf, two days 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 Mr. Culley, 

 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 one to touch their calves 

 without attacking them with impetuous ferocity. 



Mr. Culley also states, that when any one happens to be wounded, or is grown weak and feeble 

 through age and sickness, the rest of the herd set upon it and gore it to death. The weight of the oxen 

 is generally from forty to fifty stones the four quarters ; the cows, about thirty. The beef is finely 

 marbled and of excellent flavour. Those at Burton-Constable, in the county of York, were all destroyed 



* u Nee inihi displicea! maculis insignis et albo," 



