THE LYME PARK HERD OF WILD WHITE CATTLE. 83 



The old bull (1) died in the spring of 1880, and must then 

 have been at least fourteen years old. The Chartley bull (2), 

 whose temper rendered him too dangerous to keep, was shot in 

 1882 or 1883, and his carcase sold to the butcher. The old 

 cow (3) was shot in the winter of 1883-4; she was then nearly 

 seventeen years old, and very feeble. The skull of this animal 

 is preserved at the Hall, and the skin, roughly dressed, serves as 

 a rug in one of the bed-rooms at The Cage, an old hunting- 

 tower, where in by-gone days the ladies of Lyme were wont to 

 witness, without fatigue, the hunting of the wild bull, and 

 other sylvan sports, secure from the danger which a more active 

 part in the chase involved. The black cow (4),* and the cow (5), 

 were shot by Haig, the shepherd, in November, 1885, and their 

 carcases cut up for beef; they were the last surviving animals in 

 whose veins the blood of the old Lyme bulls ran, and when killed 

 their ages were respectively twelve and nine years. I have not 

 been able to trace the fate of the heifer (6), nor of the Vaynol 

 heifer (8). I believe that the young bull which Mr. Coward saw 

 in August, 1884, was steered, and fattened for the butcher. The 

 heifer (7) was also fattened and killed, and, so far as I can learn, 

 never ran with the herd. 



I have been able to collect but little evidence as to the habits 

 of the cattle. John Sigley, the old keeper, who would perhaps 

 have been able to give me more information than anyone else, 

 has been dead five or six years. Old Jim Arden, who has been 

 at Lyme, man and boy, for seventy years or more, knew the 

 cattle well, and remembers when the herd was as large as that at 

 Chartley is now; he seems to have been particularly impressed 

 with their grand carriage and action, and their superior size, as 

 compared with the Chartley bull. He constantly spoke of the 

 cattle as " wild beasts," f a name probably in use since the time 

 when they were at large in Macclesfield Forest. Mr. Jas. E. 

 Pardey, the agent for the estate, told me that, between 1856 and 

 1800, there were from thirty to five and thirty head of wild cattle 

 in the park ; he described the black cow as having a very bad 

 temper, which was confirmed by old Arden, who chuckled as he 



* For a detailed description of this animal, see ' Zoologist,' 1878, p. 278. 

 f This term is also used in the neighbourhood of Chartley, see Storer, 

 op. cit. p. 220. 



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