i6 



The Irish Naturalist. 



February, 



that they were already feasting on the plant, which in many 

 parts of the stream had again been mowed down as with a 

 scythe to near the surface of the water. By May 13th 

 the Dropwort was nearly all eaten — a fortnight before the 

 date on which I first saw the cows feeding upon it the year 

 before. Probably the backwardness of the season had 

 made them more hungry. But, like their predecessors, 

 they scorned to touch any of the other plants that grew 

 alongside the masses of Hemlock Water-Dropwort. Their 

 whole energies were devoted to this deadly herb, as often 

 as I saw any of them walk down to the stream. 



An adjacent field higher up the stream, where cattle 

 belonging to another farmer were grazing, was also kept 

 under observation. The Water-Dropwort here grew much 

 less profusely than in the field below. The cattle, however, 

 found it out, and ate it down. 



Thus three different herds of cows were found to make 

 a regular practice of eating (Enanthe crocata, and not as 

 a last resource, but as a favourite article of diet. Scarcity 

 of grass, such as might have been pleaded as an excuse 

 for their conduct in the harsh summer of 1919, was certainly 

 not the cause of their similar behaviour in the forward 

 May of 1918. On the other hand, the suggestion of sur- 

 feited stomachs, which Mr. Moss very plausibly put forward 

 in 1 918 as a possible explanation of the poison's want of 

 effect, would evidently not answer at a time of general 

 shortage of grass like the spring of 1919. Again, the fact 

 that so many as three herds showed the same immunity, 

 after feeding with equal relish on the same ill-reputed 

 plant, seems to me to put completely out of court the element 

 of mere chance. * 



That cows are not, as a rule, so wanting in the instinct 

 of self-preservation as to feed systematically on plants 

 likely to cause death will, I think, be admitted by most 

 observers. The true Hemlock (Conium macidatum) is often 

 suthrcd by Co. Wexford farmers to grow in seemingly 

 dangerous abundance in fields where cattle are constantly 

 pastured ; but, as a ruk', no damage is sustained, because 

 th(^ animals leave the deadly plant severely alone. Some 

 old pasture ground about Courtnacuddy — two miles from 

 Bally liyland — is a stronghold of this species. 



