OXEN. 



15 



situated high up on the head, and may be either rounded or 

 triangular, but never have the transverse ridges of those of the 

 Sheep or the knobs of the Goats. The broad muzzle is moist and 

 naked, and there are no glands below the eye. The upper molar 

 teeth differ from those of Sheep and Goats by their nearly square 

 section, and have an additional column on the inner side. 



Some members of the group inhabit open grassy plains, but 

 others frequent forests, and the Yak is found in the highlands of 

 Tibet. Except the Anoa, they live in herds, which may comprise 

 thousands of individuals, and are headed by bulls. Some very old 

 bulls may, however, become solitary. Their food consists either 

 of leaves, twigs, and grasses, or various marsh-plants. Usually 

 only one calf is produced at a birth. 



Typical Oxen ^ e ^ uroc ^ s ^ or Urus — the old Wild Ox of Europe — 

 is now completely extinct as a wild species, although 

 BOS tauriiS. mos t European domestic breeds may be regarded 

 as its more or less modified descendants. The remains of this Ox 

 (Bos taurus primigenius) occur abundantly in the fens and river- 

 gravels of Britain, and — as exemplified by the skull and limb-bones ["Nor 

 exhibited — indicate an animal of enormous size and strength. In Hal1 ' 

 Britain this original race appears to have become extinct by the 

 time of Caesar — at least in the southern parts of the country ; but 

 on the Continent it survived to a very much later date. In 

 England it was succeeded by the so-called Celtic Shorthorn (Bos 

 taurus longifrons) , which appears to have been a domesticated breed. 

 The half-wild white cattle of Chillingham and some other British 

 Parks have been regarded as the direct wild descendants of the 

 Aurochs, but they are really domesticated albino breeds nearly 

 related to the black Pembroke cattle (of which a head is exhibited) . 

 The Pembroke breed appears to be very closely allied to the 

 Aurochs, which is known to have been black, with a lighter stripe 

 down the back. A mounted specimen of a bull of the white cattle 

 of Chillingham Park, Northumberland, presented by the Earl of 

 Tankerville, is exhibited; while the head of a cow and the 

 skeleton of a bull are likewise shown. Of the white cattle formerly 

 kept at Chartley Park, Staffordshire, — most of the remnant of 

 which was transferred in 1905 to Woburn Abbey — the mounted 

 head and the skull of a cow, presented by the Duke of Bedford, 



