T H E O X. 
THE WILD OR WHITE FOREST BREED. 
PLATE I, 
COW, Eight Years’ Old, from Haverford West, in the County of Pembroke. 
Two species of the Bovine Genus inhabited the Old Forests of Europe ; the first, the Bison of the Homan writers, the 
Wisent of the ancient Germans, the Zimbr of the Moldavians, the Zubr of the Poles ; the second, a creature supposed to be 
identical in species with the Domestic Ox, termed Urus by the Homan writers, and Urochs by the older Germans, though the 
term Urochs or Auerochs has been long applied by German writers to the Bison. The Wild Ox was termed Tur by the Poles, 
corresponding with the Shur of the Hebrew, the Arabic, and Chaldee ; the Tur of the Persian, the Tavpog of the Greek, the Taurus 
of the Latin. Further, the people of the East have terms to distinguish the Wild Ox of the woods from that which is in a state 
of domestication. 
The Bison, or Wisent, is the largest of the native quadrupeds of Europe. He was found in the woods of Germany until 
the eighth century, and until a much later period in the forests of Poland, Lithuania, and Moldavia. In the great forest of 
Bialowieza, near Varsovia, he is still preserved in considerable herds, under the protection of the Emperor of Hussia. He may 
yet linger in other wilds of the east of Europe; but he is chiefly driven to remoter regions, where he can be secure from violence, 
—to the woods of Caucasus, and the other mountain forests of Western Asia. It was longbelieved that this wild and powerful 
creature was the parent stock of the Domestic Ox. The error of this opinion is now recognised by all naturalists. The species 
are distinct in habit, external character, and anatomical structure. 
Of the existence of theUrus, or Urochs, in the ancient forests of Europe, we have the concurrent testimony of various writers. 
J ulius CAESAR mentions a race of Wild Oxen which existed in the great forests of Germany, which he describes as being of 
great size and swiftness, and of the figure and size of bulls.* He terms them Uri; and though later writers confound the Urus 
and Bison, the distinction was known to the Homans, notwithstanding of which it is yet possible that Gesar confounded the two 
species. But the Homan writers Pliny, Seneca, Martial, indicate distinctly aWild Ox natural to Europe, besides the Bison ; 
and writers, at a long subsequent period, have described the Wild Oxen of Europe in a manner which can leave no doubt as to the 
animals designated. They formed thesubject of the chace, and their fierceness and magnitude afforded a theme for the chronicles 
of the times. In Spain, we have early accounts of the hunting of the Wild Bull; and the passion of the modern Spaniards for 
the fights of the arena may have had its origin in these bolder sports. Cuvier quotes the evidence of Gregory of Tours to 
provetheexisten.ee of Wild Oxen amongst the mountains of the Vosges, during the dynasty of the Carlovingian Kings. In 
England, the adventure of Guy Earl of Warwick with the Dun Cow is famous in traditionary lore. A skull of huge dimen¬ 
sions is yet preserved in Warwick Castle as that of the identical animal which Guy Saxon slew. The skull is doubtless of 
the fossil species which is yet found in England and other countries; but its preservation, and the tradition attending it, show 
the belief of the existence in those ages of a formidable race of oxen in the wild state. About the middle of the twelfth century, 
we have the testimony of Fitz-Stephen, that Wild Oxen, which he terms Uri sylvestres, infested the great forests around 
London. John Leslie, Bishop of Boss, who wrote in 1598, states that the Wild Ox, Bos sylvestris, was found in the woods of 
Scotland; that it was of a white colour, had a thick mane resembling a lion’s, that it was wild and savage, and, when irritated, 
rushed upon the hunters, overthrew the horses, and despised the attacks of the fiercest dogs. He says that it had formerly 
abounded in the Sylva Caledonia, but was then only to be found at Stirling, Cumbernauld, and Kincardine. 
Hector Boece, in his History and Chronicles of Scotland, bears testimony to the like effect:—“At this toun” (namely 
Stirling), “ began the gret wod of Calidon. This wod of Calidon ran fra Sniveling throw Menteith and Stratherne, to Atholl 
CAESAR de Bello Gallico, vi. 28 . 
