r 
THE WILD CATTLE OF SCOTLAND. 141 
mained alive, the survivors of the cattle plague of the few years 
previous. The. bulls looked as if they might fatten to eight hun- 
dred or eight hundred and fifty pounds. They had light hind 
quarters but were heavy and deep in front ; all had black muzzles, 
black ears, and the older beasts black tips to their horns.* We 
were told that some years ago the herd numbered eighty or ninety, 
but all fell victims to the cattle plague, except thirteen, of which 
eleven altogether escaped and two recovered. When the plague 
attacked them, they were driven individually between gradually 
approaching fences, leading to a large and strong wagon sunk tọ 
the ground level, and so captured, and taken to separate abodes, 
where they were confined until all risk was passed.. They have 
‘how (in 1870) increased to thirty-seven. t 
We have mention of some having been kept at Ardrossan and 
Auchencruive, but no further particulars, except that those at the 
latter place were very fierce.} They were also kept at Bishop- 
Auckland in 1635.§ eee 
The cattle preserved at Drumlanrig, the seat of the Duke of 
Queensberry, are said by Darwin to have become extinct in 1780, 
and are described as with their ears, muzzle and orbits of the eyes 
black.||/ Pennant writing in 1781 speaks of them as still existing, 
having lost their manes, but of a white color. Dickinson states 
that two cows and a bull were living in 1821, but the bull and one 
of the cows died that year. He describes them as dun or rather 
flea-bitten white, polled, with black muzzles and ear tips, with 
spotted legs.** Low says they were destroyed many years ago by 
order of the late Duke of Queensberry. 
The cattle at Gisburne Park, in Craven, Connty of Yorkshire, 
England, the seat of Lord Ribbesdale, are mentioned, as late as 
1852, as being pure white with brown or red ears and. noses.f{ 
Low speaks of their being polled,{{ and Bewick describes them 
as perfectly white except the inside of their ears which are brown. 
They are without horns, very strong boned but not high.§$ He 
also states, as Darwin ances 7 that me are sometimes without 
* Gard. Chron sah Gaz., Aug. 6, 1870.. Gard. Chro rg. Sa T 
tSinel Scotland, iii, 44. § An. Nat. Hist., vol. iii, ser. pie 
| Darwin, An. and Pl. under. Dom., i, 1 TQu \drupeds, 
** Dickinson, Jour. R. A. S. of Eng., 
tt Di — R A.S, i 
tt Low’s 
nee Si Bewicks Qundtupods, a edit, 9, note. -o 
Pe j 
