9516 Sucklers. 



they graze from about 6 p. m. until dark, and again at dawn ; in winter 

 they comitience feeding early in the afternoon, and are observed to 

 keep to the same hours with great regularity. They are of very slow 

 growth, the two-year-olds hardly seeming larger than ordinary year-old 

 calves. The bulls never reach any great age, which is owing to their 

 fierce battles for the mastership of the herd, an honour which a bull 

 seldom enjoys long without being wounded by some younger rival, and 

 when this happens the whole herd set upon their late tyrant and soon 

 despatch him. 



Most of our best zoologists seem now to agree in considering the 

 wild while cattle to be of the same species as our domesticated oxen ; 

 but whether they are merely tame animals returned to a state of nature, 

 or are the descendants of a truly wild race, will probably always remain 

 a subject of dispute, and unfortunately nothing is known of the history 

 of the breed which tends to settle the question. Filz-Stephen, writing 

 in the reign of Henry 111., states that wild bulls [Tauri si/lrestres) in- 

 habited the forests around London ; and, according to Speed, the wife 

 of King John received a herd of white cattle with red ears from Breck- 

 nockshire, but whether these last were tame or wild is not stated 

 (' Penny Magazine,' No. 425). Also at the famous installation feast of 

 Neville, Archbishop of York, in 1466, six wild bulls were included in 

 the bill of fare. 



The following list of parks at which these cattle are or have been 

 kept, may be of interest, and probably others of the readers of the 

 * Zoologi.st' may be able to add to the number : — 



1. Ciuubernauld, Dumbartonshire, which formerly belonged to the 

 Hamilton family ; the breed is now extinct. (' Statistical Account of 

 Dumbartonsliire.') 



2. Cadzow, Lanarkshire. 



3. Dnnn]arry,Dumlriesshire. Existed at the close of the last century, 

 but gradually became extinct. ('Penny Magazine,' No. 425.) 



4. Chillingham, Northumberland. The cattle were about eighty in 

 number in 1838. (liord Tankerville's Letter, ' Athcnajum,' No. 565.) 



5. Burton-Constable, Yorkshire. Were larger than the last-men- 

 tioned, had the ears, muzzles, and tips of the tails all black ; destroyed 

 by sickness at the end of the last century. (Bewick's ' Quadrupeds.') 



6. Gisburne Park, Craven, Yorkshire. "Formerly inhabited waste 

 land in the neighbourhood of the park." (' History of Craven,' quoted 

 by Prof. Bell.) 



7. Lyme Park, Cheshire. Different from the Chillingham breed in 

 colour and in every respect. (Lord Tankerville's Letter.) 



