WILD WHITE CATTLE. 223 



and, though in other respects they much resembled 

 domestic cattle, they were stiU so wild and un- 

 tamable, and so fearful of the approach of man, that 

 they even fled from any grass, trees, or fruit that 

 had been touched by him. 



This account has been copied, or at least fol- 

 lowed by Paulus Jovius,* Gesner,t Bishop Leslie, ;}: 

 Aldrovandus,§ Jonston,|| and many other writers 

 much nearer to our own time. 



That it was to some extent exaggerated there can 

 be no doubt ; and it is not surprising that Sir Robert 

 Sibbald, in his "Scotia Illustrata" (1684), should 

 have expressed the opinion that it "wanted con- 

 firmation." Not that the existence of wild cattle in 

 Scotland was qiiestioned, but only that they pre- 

 sented the appearance which was ascribed to them 

 by Boethius. 



From causes readily understood, wild cattle held 

 their ground longer, and continued . in a truly wild 

 state later, in Scotland than in any other part of 

 Great Britain. As civilization spread from the south, 

 forests became partly cleared, partly converted into 

 parks, and waste lands were gradually drained and 

 cultivated. Wild animals became either exter- 

 minated, like the wolf and the boar, or, like the 

 white cattle, were driven further north to their last 

 strongholds. As the population increased, game 



* " Descriptio Britannise, SootiEs, Hibernise, et Orcadam," 1548. 



t " Historia Animalium," 1551. 



X "De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus Gestis Scotorum, 1578. 



§ " Quadrupedum Omnium Bisulcorum Historia," 1632. 



II " Historia Naturalis de Quadrupedibus, 1657. 



