74 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



A solitary Roe frequented some plantations near Cotehill for 

 several seasons. In 1868 one of these animals strayed into the 

 neighbourhood of Rockliffe, and was shot at Crookdyke on the 

 5th of June. 'Where the animal came from is mere conjecture, as 

 one of the kind has never been seen before in the neighbourhood, 

 but the probability is that he had strayed from Thornhill, or 

 some other of the Duke of Buccleuch's Border preserves. He 

 was first seen feeding in a garden on the edge of Solway Flow 

 on Sunday morning, from whence he set off in the direction of 

 Castletown.' x 



Similarly, a strayed Roe frequented King Moor, near Stanwix, 

 for several months in 1883. 



Order UNGULATA. Fam. BOVIDjE. 



WILD WHITE CATTLE. 



Bos taurus, L. 



That this fine animal once enjoyed an extensive range through 

 the forest-lands of Westmorland is highly probable ; but all that 

 we positively know of its former existence in Lakeland relates to 

 a herd which was preserved at Thornthwaite, near Haweswater, at 

 the commencement of the seventeenth century. ' Thornthwaite,' 

 says Sir Daniel Fleming, ' was the antientest land belonging to 

 y e Curwens of Workington in Cumberland, it being possessed by 

 that family from the Conquest until S r Hugh de Curwen, Kn fc , 

 sold the same unto y e Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle 

 in Cumberland, who gave it to S r Francis Howard, his younger 

 son, whose son and heir, Francis Howard of Corby Castle in 

 Cumberland, doth now enjoy it.' 2 When Lord William Howard 

 effected this purchase he acquired the Wild Cattle, which had 

 probably been driven by disforesting into this remote corner 

 among the hills, and had been protected by the Curwens for 

 several centuries. It has been suggested that these animals were 

 in the habit of ranging into Martin dale, but to those who know 

 the ground it appears more natural to conjecture that these 



1 Carlisle Journal, June 8, 1868. 



2 Description of Westmorland, p. 25. 



