362 



Forrest: British 'Wild' Cattle. 



obtained possession of some of the white cattle descended from 

 the Roman breed, and bred from these, or they carefully 

 selected any while animals that happened to appear in their 

 own herds, and bred from those till a white race was established, 

 thus emulating the example of the Romans who 'set the fashion/ 

 That the original stock whence the modern Park Cattle 

 arose was not white is proved by the fact that in all these herds 

 the cows frequently drop coloured calves — usually black. 

 During the present year a Vaynol cow, mated with a Chartley 

 bull at the ' Zoo,' dropped a black calf ; the same pair produced 

 another black calf the previous year. It is notorious that the 

 white colour of the herds has only been kept pure by the care 

 of the keepers in killing all the animals born which were not of 

 the desired hue. 



Over anxiety to preserve the purity of the race has led to 

 disaster ; several of the herds have died out altogether for want 

 of new blood, and consequent loss of stamina to resist disease — 

 e.s:., those at Lyme and Chartley Parks. 



At the present time there is probably no herd of White 

 Cattle with better stamina than that at Vaynol, Bangor, owned 

 b}' Mr. C. G. Assheton Smith. Since writing the brief account 

 this herd in my ' Fauna of North Wales,' I have obtained 

 full details as to its origin, and these are of special interest as 

 showing hov^ such a herd can be produced in modern times by 

 judicious blending of distinct strains. About the year 1854, 

 the late Sir John P. Orde, of Kilmory House, Argyllshire, pur- 

 chased a pure-bred bull from Blair Atholl, where the remnant 

 of an old herd of White Cattle was being disposed of — they 

 belonged to the black-eared group. This bull was put to several 

 white Highland cows, and in the course of a few years a small 

 herd of white half-breeds was produced. The cows in this herd 

 were subsequently mated with a pure bull from Lord Breadal- 

 bane's (also of Blair Atholl stock), so that the progeny were 

 three-quarter bred Atholl Cattle, and one-quarter Highland. 

 The herd was purchased in 1872 by the late Mr. G. Duff Assheton 

 Smith, and removed to Vaynol. A bull from the Duke of 

 Hamilton's herd at Cadzow was added to the stork in 1896 

 (not whilst the herd was at Kilmory, as stated by a reviewer in 

 the ' Fi'^ld '). This bull was not a success, being less hardy 

 than the others, whilst many of his progeny were black or 

 spotted. Prior to his introduction no black calves had appeared 

 and there have been but few since his death. 



Naturalist, 



