4 6 
THE WILD CATTLE OF CHARTLEY, 
STAFFORDSHIRE. 
HE interesting account in the December number of 
| Nature Notes of “ The White Cattle of Cadzow,” 
I by Mr. McCabe, will probably make a few notes on 
the Chartley Wild Cattle, belonging to the Earl of 
Ferrers, acceptable to our readers. But it must first be pointed 
out that Mr. McCabe is in error in stating that the Lyme Park 
herd still exists, the last surviving animal in this herd having 
been shot in 1885. 
The Chartley Herd of Wild White Cattle is, like that of 
Cadzow, of great antiquity ; but whether the present animals 
are directly descended from some one of the ancient native 
species, such as Bos Primigenius, Bos Longifrons, &c., or whether 
they are descendants of domestic cattle introduced by the Romans 
and run wild, is still an undecided question. The former theory 
certainly appears to be supported by the fact that remains of Bos 
Primigenius have several times been unearthed in Staffordshire, 
and, only last year, a number of semi-fossilised horn-cores of 
cattle were discovered during excavations in gravel beds on the 
banks of the Trent, near Stone, and these horn-cores, both in size 
and curvature, &c., strongly resemble the horns of the Chartley 
cattle. Professor Boyd Dawkins has, however, given it as his 
opinion that these horn-cores belonged to domestic oxen of 
the strain of Bos Urus, the aboriginal wild ox of Europe, from 
which all our larger breeds are descended. 
The most striking characteristics of the Chartley cattle are 
the heavy and deep body, with long and level back (most impor- 
tant points in the eyes of the agriculturist), the horns growing 
out of the head horizontally and slightly downwards for some 
distance, and then curving upwards. Their colouring is pure 
white, with jet black ears, muzzle, hoofs, and tips of horns; the 
hair is somewhat coarse; and on the top of the head between the 
horns there is a mass of long curly hair in both sexes, forming 
a regular “ mop-wig.” In the bulls the horns are often shorter 
and straighter than those of the cows. The only varieties in 
colour are either “ ticking ” of black upon the legs (more 
especially on the front legs and shoulders), which is always 
regarded as a blemish, or an entirely melanistic variety, in which 
case the calf is always killed. The old tradition, that whenever 
a black calf is born .it portends a death in. the Ferrers family, 
was, a short time since, explained by the old keeper who attends 
to these cattle thus — “ It is true in one sense that the birth 
of a black calf portends a death, for the calf itself is always 
killed.” 
Mr. Brown, in “The Natural History of Tutbury,” states that 
“we should probably have lost the whole of the Chartley breed of 
cattle had it not been for the provident care of William, Earl of 
