328 Animal Life 
still lumber on, slow but untiring, the 
pride of thei ox-znan, and the one bit 
of colour to lghten up a bare, bleak land- 
scape consisting of immense stone-wall-, 
or scrubby hedge-encircled “ grounds ~— 
“orounds’’ so large that a dozen ordinary 
fields might be lost thereim—or the even 
barer South Downs. 
Some of the working oxen whose friend- 
ship I am honoured with, live in a calm, 
old-world, ruminative manner, right up on 
the Cotswold Hulls; others lower down 
in the more fertile part of the county. 
The contrast, within quite a few miles, 
TT > SS Get ae SS ~ between the higher altitudes of the great 
Cotswold range and the verdure-clad valleys 
is marvellous; high up on the bracing, ex- 
hilavatine wolds, where the roads are white 
and straight and the landmarks few and 
far between, some teams of oxen may be 
found at plough, or harnessed to carts and 
wagegons—occasionally yoked with horses, 
a mixed team indeed!—hauling the wheat 
or oat harvest to the stack-yard, which 
is probably sheltered by the grey stone 
scarlet-creeper-mantled farmhouse behind 
the little bunch of somewhat scrubby trees 
to be seen in a neighbouring dip in the 
hills. However, the oxen I am _ best 
acquainted with (those whose photographs 
<t " illustrate this article) reside in a more 
WARING genial part of the county, where the stone 
walls have given place to ragged hedges 
and the soil is red. 
Fairly early in the morning, before 
the dew is off the grass, or the spider's 
lace-work trimming on the brambles has 
become invisible, the ox-man and his boy 
“Gnspan,” and the great plough is got to 
work. Hour after hour, in practical silence 
save for the clank of chain and a cry of 
“Now, Chomp-yin!” from the ox-boy, the 
oxen plod along till the dinner-hour 1s 
reached, when the great beasts lay them- 
selves down with some groans, just as 
they are, in their harness, for a delicious 
hour of rest and cud chewing. te 
On one occasion IT decided. that I would 
not leave the neighbourhood without a 
photograph ef the oxen lying down in their furniture—though they are somewhat shy 
with strangers. The day chosen opened somewhat gloomily, but 1 was assured by the 
