THE EXTINCT MAMMALS OF LAKELAND liii 



text-books have hitherto overlooked the former presence of this 

 animal in Lakeland. The earliest notice of a 'find' of the 

 remains of this animal occurs in the account of the parish of 

 Asby, Westmorland, furnished by Nicolson and Burn. They 

 state : ' In digging of peats within this manor, nigh the east end 

 of Sunbiggin Tarn, about 40 years ago [say in 1737], were found 

 the horns of two large bulls, jumped together in the position 

 of fighting, one of them probably having pushed the other into 



The Auroch (the Howgill Castle Ox). 



the mud, where they had both sunk. The rest of the skeletons 

 could not be recovered by reason of the water oozing in. One 

 pair of these horns was carried to Howgill Castle, where they 

 are yet to be seen.' 1 The Rev. J. Wharton showed me some 

 remains of the horns of an Ox obtained in Sunbiggin Tarn, with 



Antiquities and History of Westmorland and Cumberland, vol. i. p. 512. 



