Wild Cattle of Great Britain. 501 
after leaving home but before they reached Britain; so that the 
Danish additions to Scotch and English breeds were not one but 
many. Still, it was among their introductions that their tendency 
to polled calves was brought to this island, and it came from the 
far north, where, even in the days of Herodotus, its existence was 
noticed. Before Herodotus we only find traces of it in rock sculp- 
ture in the far Orient. Thousands of years ago the polled form 
was developed (as I think) in India, and it worked its way thence 
to the shores of the Baltic overland through centuries of slow 
advances. From the Baltic it found its way to England and Scot- 
land. I do not think from England to Scotland, or vice versd, but 
that the same set of sea-rovers introduced cattle with polled tenden- 
cies into both countries almost simultaneously.” 
It should be stated that the above was written before the publi- 
cation of Victor Hehn’s work (already noticed), in which the latter 
traces the polled cattle of Western Europe to Scandinavia and the 
White Sea. Mr. Gilbert takes the history of these continental polls 
a step farther, following them, it will be seen, to the eastern coasts 
of Great Britain, landing them with the Baltic invaders, to become 
the determining element in forming the polled races now existing 
in Great Britain, whether north or south of the Tweed. “These,” 
writes Mr. Gilbert, “probably were our latest introductions.” 
Hence the polled breeds on the eastern coast would have had prior 
origin. The various British and foreign forms Mr. Gilbert thus 
indicates must be studied as a whole in connection with the appear- 
ance in Europe of the various hordes who reached it by two routes: 
First, by the northern route, descending upon Mid-Europe from 
the shores of the Baltic. Second, by the southern route, making 
their way upward, men and cattle, along the shores of the 
Mediterranean. 
The question has raged to which species these wild cattle be- 
longed? Professor Low says of these animals: “The wild breed, 
or, as it may be termed when domesticated, the white Forest breed 
—identical with the ancient Urus—is still preserved in a few parks, 
where the animals, herding and breeding only with one another, 
retain their pristine characters. Numbers, however, existed in the 
domesticated state in Wales until late in the last centarys: «<< .s 
Scattered individuals are yet to be met with,-as in the County of 
Sawa in no respect distinguishable from the wild cattle of the 
parks, | 
