330 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Cathcart, by purchase, by Richard Oswald (the first), it had on the 

 opposite side of the 'river to the house, on a grassy hill, called ' the 

 Peel Hill,' a herd of white wild cattle. These being found useless 

 and troublesome, were got rid of within a few years, and certainly 

 during the lifetime of the first Laird, who died in 1784. ' The Peel 

 Hill ' was bounded on the side next the house by the river, which 

 partly encircled it ; and the landward part was fenced. 



" Yours very truly, 



" Hugh Cowan." 



Except that it is said they were very savage, this is 

 all the information I can obtain about the Auchencruive 

 cattle. Their origin is quite unknown. The Lord 

 Cathcart who sold the property married a grand-daughter 

 of the Duke of Hamilton, but only ten years before he 

 sold it, so that it is very improbable that they came 

 from Hamilton. From two hundred and fifty to three 

 hundred years before that, his ancestor John, second 

 Lord Cathcart (whose eldest son by a former marriage 

 fell at Flodden in 1513), married as his second wife a 

 daughter of the house of Douglas of Drumlanrig. The 

 wild cattle of Auchencruive may have come from that 

 place ; or they may have been a still more ancient 

 possession of the family of Cathcart. 



The Ardrossan Herd of wild cattle comes next ; 

 and, like those of Hamilton and Auchencruive, it was 

 mentioned by Sir John Sinclair in 1814 as one of the 

 then few remaining examples of Caledonia's ancient 

 breed. It survived till about 1820. 



The ruins of Ardrossan Castle are beautifully 

 situated on the west coast of Southern Scotland, and in 

 the county of Ayr. It has belonged for ages, and still 

 belongs, to the Earls of Eglinton, who reside at their 



