224 WILD WHITE CATTLE. 



everywhere decreased, except in places wliere "liberty 

 to inclose " forest land was granted by the king to 

 influential nobles or deserving courtiers. Great 

 tracts of forest were from time to time inclosed 

 within a pale, haye, or wall, with the game and wild 

 animals they contained, or with others driven in, and 

 these inclosures became parks. Thus the land and 

 all that it contained was secured for ever to the 

 person having the liberty to inclose, and no one could 

 thereafter enter or interfere without subjecting him- 

 self to severe penalties.* 



This was the saving of the wild cattle, which, 

 except for the protection thus afforded them, would, 

 like the other animals mentioned, have become 

 extinct centuries ago. 



Many such "licenses to inclose " (some of very early 

 date) are stiU preserved, and furnish, in not a few 

 instances, a clue to the history of private herds of 

 wild white cattle. In enumerating the herds which 

 are known to us, and concerning which some historical 

 notices are to be found, it will perhaps be convenient 

 to take them alphabetically, those which are still 

 existing being distinguished hy an asterisk. 



Ardrossan Castle, Ayrshire. — Although of 

 unknown origin, it is certain that a herd of white 

 wild cattle, with black ears and muzzles, existed here 



* Storer, op. cit. pp. 75, 76. By Stat. Westminster, I. c. 20, 

 trespassers in parks might be compelled to give treble damages 

 to the party aggrieved, suffer three years' imprisonment, be fined 

 at the King's pleasure, and give surety never to offend in the like 

 kind again ; and if they could not find surety, they had to abjm-e the 

 realm, or, being fugitive, were outlawed. 



