134 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



may be attributed to the long struggle with car- 

 nivorous foes. The weakly or undersized cattle 

 would naturally fall a prey more easily than those 

 which were large and strong. But we shall find 

 the chief cause in the fact that a desperate strife 

 for the mastery was always going on between the 

 rival bulls which desired to lord it over the rest 

 of the herd. In these battles the strongest and 

 most active would naturally come off victors. 

 It was generally more a question of weight 

 and strength than of agility, for bulls fight by 

 chareingr and thrustingr at one another with their 

 horns. There is no doubt that the massive 

 fore-end of the bull bison was developed by the 

 habit of using himself as a projectile wherewith 

 to batter his rivals out of the over-lordship of the 

 herd. But the strategy of the common bull 

 involves another method of attack. He tries to 

 toss his opponent, and this feat, when he is 

 dealing with a foe which weighs nearly a ton, 

 requires considerable strength of neck. 



Now it is this very strength that has been 

 acquired for the purposes of war, which makes 

 the ox so useful in peaceful agriculture. Men 

 have not yet beaten their swords into plough- 

 shares, but the ox has for many ages bowed 



