CATTLE OF THE RUSSIAN STEPPES. 47 



its scanty fare, we come to that wonderful country, the 

 great Russian steppe, the ancient Scythia and Sarmatia. 

 Here, too, as in Hungary, represented by its modern 

 semi- wild descendants, the Bos urus still holds its 

 own ; for the Cow of the Russian Steppes nearly resembles 

 both in character and in colour the Hungarian breed and 

 our own white wild forest breed, as may be seen by the 

 illustration from MM. Moll and Gayot's work. It was 

 originally given in the work of M. Demidoff, entitled, 

 "Voyage dans la Russie Meridionale en 1841." It was 

 painted from life by Raffet, has been examined by 

 scientific men, and by veterinary and other Russian 

 officers, who had occasion to see the cattle of the steppes, 

 and all have pronounced it very exact. 



In that enormous territory there is great uniformity 

 of colour. The calf, as in Hungary, is of a darker 

 colour than its parents ; but as it grows up it assumes 

 the characteristics of its race, which are light grey, 

 common grey, dark grey, or mouse-coloured grey. The 

 darker greys, however, rarely cover the whole animal, 

 and are seldom seen except upon the neck and shoulders, 

 the dewlap, and the tip of the tail. White seems to be 

 the fundamental colour ; cattle housed for a time revert 

 to it, and those which live out day and night, summer 

 and winter, on their pastures, as the cattle of these 

 immense steppes usually do. are a greyish white or a 

 more ordinary grey. And on the whole M. Spinola 

 affirms* that "though they present very varied tints, 

 ranging from dirty white to grey more or less dark, the 

 white coat seems specially to characterise the animals of 

 the race of the steppes at an adult age." And what is 



* Moll et Gayot, p. 576. 



