WILD WHITE CATTLE 



Though Darwin and other naturaUsts considered our Park Cattle to be 

 most Ukely directly descended from the Urus, Professor Owen, Dr. J. A. 

 Smith, E. R. Alston and others do not hold this view, but look upon them 

 as originally a domestic breed, whose wildness has been partly due to their 

 environment. 



According to Mr. Harting (Extinct ^British Animals^ p. 220) white 

 cattle with red ears are referred to in the Welsh laws of Howell Dha about 

 940 A.D. and wild cattle are mentioned in the forest laws of King Canute 

 (a.d. 1014-1035). 



Again they are included among other wild beasts inhabiting the great 

 forests around London by Fitz-Stephen about 11 74. In the great 

 Caledonian woods of Central Scotland, pure white forest bulls, with manes 

 like lions, are described by Hector Boece, which may possibly have been the 

 ancestors of the herd which at one time existed at Blair Athole. 



As the land became more settled and the forests began to disappear, 

 what were left of the cattle in various parts of Britain were driven into 

 enclosures belonging to the great landed proprietors, where they still 

 remain in one or two localities at the present day. 



Perhaps the best known and most famous of the remaining herds is 

 the one at Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, owned by the Earl of 

 Tankerville, where the park extends to about eleven hundred acres. This 

 enclosure is referred to as far back as 1292 as containing wild animals, 

 apparently those which had been driven in from the surrounding 

 district. 



In Plate 41 I have shown the head of a Chillingham Bull drawn 



from life. 



In this breed the horns turn upwards and inwards, the inside of the 

 ears and upper part of the muzzle are reddish brown, and the rest 

 of the animal creamy white. 



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