CHAPTER IV 
BRITISH PARK-CATTLE 
IN former days a number of parks in Great Britain 
were noted for possessing herds of white cattle, 
which roamed at will in a more or less nearly wild 
condition over considerable areas. These park- 
cattle, which appear to have been mainly peculiar 
to the British Isles, were long regarded as truly wild, 
and were named by Colonel Hamilton Smith ^ the 
white urus {Urns scoticus). This view is, however, a 
completely mistaken one, and park-cattle are in 
reality partially domesticated albino breeds. 
All British park-cattle, when pure-bred, are white 
with the exception of the ears and muzzle, and 
sometimes the front of the legs, which may be either 
red or black, while the horns are whitish with black 
tips. In size these cattle are small, but their pro- 
portions are nearly perfect, the head being small, the 
back straight, and the legs short. Larger or smaller 
herds of these cattle were formerly kept in the 
following parks, namely, Auchencruive (Ayrshire), 
Barnard Castle (Durham), Bishop Auckland 
(Durham), Blair Athole (Perthshire), Burton Con- 
stable (Yorkshire), Cadzow Castle (Lanarkshire), 
Chartley Park (Staffordshire), Chillingham Castle 
1 In Griffiths' Animal Kingdom, vol. iv. p. 417, 1827. 
