SUPERSTITION ABOUT BLACK CALVES. 221 



1873, there were twenty-seven; their colour white, with 

 black ears." 



A singular and ancient superstition hovers round them. 

 At intervals some cow gives birth to a black calf, and this 

 is said by the common people, and even by others, to be in- 

 dicative of some impending calamity; or as some say, " to 

 be a sure omen of death within the year to a member of 

 the lord's family." I give the statement as I have 

 received it from a member of the family; but I must 

 add that being, nearly forty years since, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Lord Ferrers' other place, Staunton Harold, 

 when several members of the Ferrers family had died 

 near together, the unusual number of black calves that 

 had been lately born at Chartley was a frequent subject 

 of conversation. But omen or not, one thing it seems 

 to show : a certain tendency to an unusual quantity 

 of black. Darwin, quoting from Low, says respecting 

 these cattle: — "A singular superstition prevails in 

 the vicinity that when a black calf is born some 

 calamity impends over the noble house of Ferrers. All 

 the black calves are destroyed." If indeed they are 

 supposed to be such indications of evil, it is probable 

 they would be. 



Such is the historical and traditional account of 

 Chartley and its cattle. What follows is the result of 

 my own observations and inquiries on the spot. Twice 

 I have visited the park, and very carefully inspected the 

 cattle. The first time I approached it from the north, 

 on July 24th, 1874, with Mr. Chandos-Pole-Grell, and 

 Mr. Philips, of Heybridge, both well-known Short-horn 

 breeders. We passed through a rough, hilly, broken 

 country, of principally second-rate pasture land, cold and 

 scantily inhabited at present, and which in ancient days 



