312 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Towards Blickling the character of the grass -land im- 

 proves, but it is not strong, and it is also affected by 

 the circumstances Mr. Gilbert mentions. It is not, 

 therefore, to be expected that cattle kept there in a 

 perfectly natural manner, as these white cattle are, 

 should develop their full capabilities to the extent 

 they would under more favourable circumstances. Any 

 other remarks on Mr. Gilbert's admirable report I 

 defer until I have considered the history of some other 

 Norfolk white herds, which, like this, sprang from 

 Gunton. 



The Woodbastwick Herd was also most certainly 

 derived from the one at Gunton. It was kept by 

 the late Mr. Albemarle Cator, at his residence, Wood- 

 bastwick Hall, some eight miles to the north-east of 

 Norwich. Like the Gunton herd, from which they 

 sprang, these cattle were used for domestic purposes, 

 and they have continued to the present time, but not 

 in their original purity. They are now the property of 

 the present Mr. Albemarle Cator, son and heir of their 

 former possessor of the same name. It appears from 

 the statement of Mr. Timothy Coleman, before alluded 

 to, who first lived at Antingham, close to Gunton, and 

 was subsequently a tenant of Mr. Cator's, and who, 

 therefore, knew both herds well, that, " about the year 

 1840," Edward Vernon, fourth Lord Suffield, had a sale 

 of some of his white polled cattle, and " one or two " 

 were purchased for Mr. Cator. This the old herdsman, 

 who has been at Woodbastwick more than thirty- six 

 years, confirms. Soon after his arrival one cow came, 

 and he well remembers her. " She had black spots 

 round the muzzle," and he believes "the ears and the 



