260 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



indication of wildness. All the others were very tame ; 

 yet none of the females, all of whom we saw in the open, 

 would allow us to handle them; but this calf, which 

 was by itself in a large loose-box, was certainly much 

 more timid than domestic calves usually are. This may 

 very likely be the result of inherited tendencies only 

 partially suppressed. 



The cows, as I have said, were thirteen in number, 

 four of them being half-bred. One of these latter was, 

 the bailiff said, from a perfectly black cow. Notwith- 

 standing this, she contained much more white than 

 would have been supposed, and her heifer, which we 

 saw afterwards, still more. The other three were from 

 ordinary Short-horn cows, which were all, I understood, 

 horned, and with a certain amount of colour ; yet two 

 of these were hornless and pure white — one with white, 

 the other with red ears ; while the third, a light roan, 

 had one small abortive snag — it could not be called a 

 horn. There cannot be a stronger proof of the pre- 

 potency of their white sires. 



Of the nine pure-bred cows, one showed a great deal 

 of black on the head, sides, and legs, the back and belly- 

 lines being clear white : this gave her much the appear- 

 ance of a Long-horn. One was, on the head, neck, 

 sides, and legs, so speckled, that she might fairly be 

 called a "flea-bitten grey;" and in this respect she 

 strikingly resembled one of the stuffed heads of the 

 Chartley cows which I had seen in the Hall there. Four 

 others were more or less speckled — but none of them to 

 a great extent — with small, very clearly -marked black 

 spots, principally on the neck, and more partially on 

 the sides. These spots were generally a good way apart 

 from each other, and in most of them — though very 



