found near Newstead, Roxburghshire. 133 



ties seem to me to favour the idea of these cattle being merely 

 a fancy breed of ancient domesticated cattle, preserved for 

 their beauty in the parks of the nobility. 



It is well known that the colour of many animals is changed 

 by domestication, and that they frequently become more or 

 less entirely white ; and it is interesting, as shewing appa- 

 rently where some of the last traces of the original colour 

 of an animal, which has been changed in this way, may be 

 expected still to remain ; to notice the remark of Professor 

 Bell of London, in his valuable work on " British Quadru- 

 peds," that " It appears the ears are more liable to retain 

 colour in animals which become white by domestication than 

 any other parts. This is the case, as we have seen, with the 

 guinea pig, and it is no less true of the ox, and some others." — 

 (P. 355.) I have heard a similar remark made by Professor 

 Fleming, that he had never seen an entirely white ox, but 

 that the ears always remained of a different colour. Now in 

 these park-kept white cattle, we have this same peculiarity 

 also existing. And Professor Nilsson alludes in his paper, 

 to the well-known fact, that no race of wild oxen of 

 this white colour is known to naturalists. In Mr Hind- 

 marsh's paper, already referred to, he quotes passages from 

 several ancient authors, to justify the hypothesis of their being 

 the remains of the ancient wild cattle of the country : these 

 authors are,. Hector Boece or Boethius, " Scotorum Historian 

 a Prima Gentis Origine," published at Paris in 1526 ; and 

 Bishop John Leslie's work " De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus 

 Gestis Scotorum," published at Rome in 1578. Now these, 

 I suspect, must be considered, not as two independent autho- 

 rities, but merely as one ; for the Bishop, in his book, pub- 

 lished some fifty- two years after the other, gives manifestly, in 

 this instance, almost a verbatim copy of the statements of 

 Boethius. To shew this, I may compare the original passages, 

 which refer to the existence of these white cattle in the Great 

 Caledonian Forest, which formerly covered the country from 

 Stirling to Athol. 1, Boethius, " Scotorum Histories a 

 Prima Gentis Origine" fol. 6, 1. 63 ; Scotorum Regni De- 

 scriptio, &c, of edit. Paris 1574:—" Hie initia olim fuere 

 Caledonise sylvge, manentibus videlicet veteribus adhuc nomi- 



