THE CATTLE SEMI-WILD. 235 



breeds of cattle, the cows were small relatively to the 

 bulls and steers — in this respect resembling the Here- 

 fords, which perhaps are indebted for some of their 

 blood to this strain of wild cattle. 



In winter they come up in bad weather, and are fed 

 with coarse, rushy hay, which we saw, and with this hay 

 alone. Formerly all were fed together in one paddock ; 

 but King, the present keeper, finding that the younger 

 ones suffered from the older ones getting most of the 

 hay, has adopted a different system, and now the older 

 and the younger are each fed by themselves in separate 

 paddocks, and the younger ones have grown and thriven 

 much better since. This plan, and also the enforced 

 separation of the calves from their mothers after a 

 certain age, appear to me likely to increase the fertility 

 of the herd, but perhaps to diminish its wildness. 

 Possibly, the latter result is even now appreciable. 



The Chartley wild cattle are not so wild as those at 

 Chillingham. This is probably owing to the circum- 

 stance that the park is bounded on one side by a public 

 road, from which it is only separated by a paled fence, 

 which is not the case at Chillingham, so that they are at 

 Chartley much more habituated to the sight of man. 

 My impression is that they are somewhat wilder than 

 fallow-deer in an ordinary deer-park. It is possible to 

 get pretty near them ; but they have a great amount of 

 timidity, and soon sheer off if approached too closely. 

 A gentleman who lived in the neighbourhood, and who 

 has frequently ridden through the park, told me that 

 when doing so he has never seen them, so much are 

 they inclined to conceal themselves. When we got 

 near them on my first visit, it was a very hot, dry, 

 sultry afternoon, and we intercepted them as they were 



