146 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



taken word for word from Culley's work, so that it is 

 needless to repeat it. In one respect only does lie 

 differ from the latter, in saying, " The weight of the 

 oxen is generally from forty to fifty stones the four 

 quarters, of the cows about thirty." Bewick, however, 

 besides giving some brief notices of other wild herds, 

 states further, with reference to the one at Chilling- 

 ham: — 



" About twenty years since there were a few at 

 Chillingham with black ears, but the present park- 

 keeper destroyed them : since which period there has 

 not been one with black ears." ..." Tame cows, in 

 season, are frequently turned out amongst the wild cattle 

 at Chillingham, and admit the bull. It is somewhat 

 extraordinary that the calves produced by this mode are 

 invariably of the same colour with the wild breed (white, 

 with red ears), and retain a good deal of the fierceness 

 of their sire." 



The above authorities differ a little on one or two 

 points. Bewick makes the oxen of much greater weight 

 than Culley, who had the best means of knowing ; or 

 than Pennant, who obtained his information from the 

 keeper. There can be no doubt that Bewick was mis- 

 taken. Even Culley's statement names a maximum 

 weight greater than either ox or cow nowadays attains ; 

 while Pennant's average of their weights, ninety years 

 or so since, fairly represents their average weights at 

 the present time. Michie, the keeper, told me that 

 the heaviest ox killed for some years past weighed 

 forty-two stone three pounds the four quarters, and the 

 heaviest cow thirty-three stone nine pounds. But it is 

 undoubtedly true, as Culley observes, that they would 

 make much greater weights could they be subjected to 



