124 BIRDS AND POETS 



" a case like this will often occur : No. 1 will whip 

 No. 2; No. 2 whips No. 3; and No. 3 whips No. 

 1 ; so around in a circle. This is not a mistake ; it 

 is often the case. I remember," he continued, "we 

 once had feeding out of a large bin in the centre of 

 the yard six oxen who mastered right through in 

 succession from No. 1 to No. 6; but No. 6 paid 

 off the score by whipping No. 1. I often watched 

 them when they were all trying to feed out of the 

 box, and of course trying, dog-in-the-manger fash- 

 ion, each to prevents any other she could. They 

 would often get in the order to do it very system- 

 atically, since they could keep rotating about the 

 box till the chain happened to get broken some- 

 where, when there would be confusion. Their mas- 

 tership, you know, like that between nations, is 

 constantly changing. But there are always Napo- 

 leons who hold their own through many vicissitudes ; 

 but the ordinary cow is continually liable to lose 

 her foothold. Some cow she has always despised, 

 and has often sent tossing across the yard at her 

 horns' ends, some pleasant morning will return the 

 compliment and pay off old scores." 



But my own observation has been that, in herds 

 in which there have been no important changes for 

 several years, the question of might gets pretty well 

 settled, and some one cow becomes the acknowledged 

 ruler. 



The bully of the yard is never the master, but 

 usually a second or third rate pusher that never 

 loses an opjsortunity to hook those beneath her, or 



