wild english cattle.

we have a few herds of the original cattle which once abounded in england and scotland, still remaining. we have long ago destroyed our wolves, bears, and boars; and it seems almost a miracle that a few of these inhabitants of our ancient forests have been preserved. they form the most interesting objects of those parts of the country where they exist. every one knows the use scott has made of them in the bride of lammermuir. there was formerly a fine herd of them at drumlanrig in scotland. in england they were to be found at burton-constable in yorkshire; wollaton near nottingham; gisburne in craven; lime-hall in cheshire; chartley castle in staffordshire; and chillingham castle in northumberland. that they were of the true old breed was sufficiently testified by their common resemblance; being[396] universally milk-white; having only the tips of their horns, and their muzzles and ears coloured. the only difference was, that in some herds, the tips and the whole of the inside of the ears, were black, in others red or brown. what may be the numbers remaining at lime or gisburne, i do not know. at wollaton they have become mixed with the common breed; but at chartley there are about twenty of them, where they retain their ancient characteristics, and their wildness. here, there are sundry superstitions connected with them. it is believed and asserted, that if they amount to more than a certain number, or if a calf of an unusual colour is produced, some calamity happens in the family of the noble owner, earl ferrers. this, it is asserted, was the case when one of the earls was executed; and indeed, that every family calamity has been thus prognosticated.

the noblest herd is to be found at chillingham castle, on the northumbrian borders, the seat of the earl of tankerville. the park is well calculated for the use of such animals. it lies in a solitary country. care seems taken to render the isolation as complete as possible;—there is not even a public-house permitted by his lordship in the small hamlet, which seems to exist just as the ancient, dependent hamlet of the feudal castle did in the feudal times themselves. the castle, a fine fabric, in true castellated style, and well befitting the classic land of northumberland—the region of alnwick, warkworth, and chevy-chace—of the skirmishes of douglas and percy—of many an ancient cross, convent, battle-stone, and hermit-cell, lies embosomed in its woods at the foot of wild hills, which ascend eastward for a mile or more, and terminate in a range of bare and craggy eminences of a fine woodland character. this steep slope between the castle and these heights is the park. various woods and deep dells are scattered over it, so that the cattle can choose a high and airy pasture between them, where they see afar off any approach—a situation they seem particularly to enjoy; or can, at the slightest alarm, plunge into the depth of woods and glens.

bewick, who visited them, has given capital portraits of this interesting race of cattle, and the following passages from his account of them are marked by his usual accuracy. “at the first appearance of any person, they set off in full gallop, and at the[397] distance of two or three hundred yards make a wheel round, and come boldly up again, tossing their heads in a menacing manner. on a sudden they make a full stop at the distance of forty or fifty yards, looking wildly at the objects of their surprise; but on the least motion being made, they all again turn round, and run off with equal speed, but not to the same distance: forming a shorter circle, and again returning with a bolder and more threatening aspect than before, they approach much nearer, probably within thirty yards; when they make another stand, and again run off. this they do several times, shortening their distance, and advancing nearer, till they come within ten yards; when most people think it prudent to leave them, not choosing to provoke them further; for there is little doubt but in two or three times more they would make an attack.

“the mode of killing them was, perhaps, the only modern remains of the grandeur of ancient hunting. on notice being given that a wild bull would be killed on a certain day, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood came mounted and armed with guns, etc., sometimes to the amount of a hundred horse, and four or five hundred foot, who stood upon walls or got into trees, while the horsemen rode out the bull from the rest of the herd, until he stood at bay; when a marksman dismounted and shot. at some of these huntings twenty or thirty of these shots have been fired before he was subdued. on such occasions the bleeding victim grew desperately furious, from the smarting of his wounds, and the shouts of savage joy that were echoing from every side; but, from the number of accidents that happened, this dangerous mode has been little practised of late years; the park-keeper alone generally shooting them with a rifled gun, at one shot.

“when the cows calve, they hide their calves for a week or ten days, in some sequestered situation, and go and suckle them two or three times a-day. if any person come near the calves, they clap their heads close to the ground, and lie like a hare in form to hide themselves. this is a proof of their native wildness, and is corroborated by the following circumstance, that happened to the writer of this narrative, who found a hidden calf of two days old, very lean and very weak. on stroking its head, it got up,[398] pawed two or three times like an old bull, bellowed very loud, stepped back a few steps, and bolted at his legs with all his force. it then began to paw again, bellowed, stepped back, and bolted as before; but knowing its intention, he stepped aside, and it missed him, fell, and was so very weak, that it could not rise, though it made several efforts. but it had done enough: the whole herd was alarmed, and coming to its rescue, obliged him to retire; for the dams will allow no person to touch their calves, without attacking them with impetuous ferocity.

“when any one happens to be wounded, or is grown feeble through age or sickness, the rest of the herd set upon it and gore it to death.

“the weight of the bulls is generally from forty to fifty stone the four quarters; of the cows about thirty. the beef is finely marbled, and of excellent flavour.”

we visited the park in 1836, and were at great pains to get a sight of this noble herd. we were told that the keeper was in the park and would get us a view of it; but on going into it, we found him, and some others of the household busily engaged in shooting fawns. for this purpose some men on horseback were galloping round a herd of deer, and driving them in a particular direction, where a keeper lay in ambush, near a narrow opening between the woods, and when they came near enough, shot with his rifle such fawns as he wanted. it was a scene of great animation: the galloping men—the keeper seen cautiously peeping out, to watch for the approach of the herd—the herd here collected into a dense group, in watchfulness and alarm—and again streaming off in a long line across the park, in some direction which seemed most to promise escape. the cries of the old—the shriller cries of the young—the sudden flash and report from the thicket—the fall of the fawn—and the flying of the herd in some other direction, made up a lively though painful scene.

but this spoiled our peculiar sport. the wild cattle, accustomed to be fired at themselves occasionally, alarmed at the sound of the guns, had retired to the most obscure woodland retreats of the park. several persons told us that they had seen the whole herd a few minutes before, in the highest part of the park; but we traversed the woods in every direction, and penetrated into their[399] darkest recesses without getting a glimpse of them. this we did for a couple of hours, and spite of the warnings of those who were well acquainted with them, so great was my anxiety to have a view of these fine animals. two sawyers, who were sawing timber at a pit up in a glade of the park, told us that a few mornings before, on coming to their work, they found several bulls in the glade, which began to shake their heads, and tear up the ground in a style which induced them to betake themselves to the wood as nimbly as possible. we were told too, that mr. landseer, while sketching some of these cattle, found it advisable to retreat more than once; and that people are not only frequently pursued, but that one man had been killed by them the previous summer. however, trusting to my ability to mount a tree, in case of need, i determined to hold on till i found them; and having thus gone through all the woods but one, not excepting robin hood’s cleuch, for robin has a traditionary retreat in many a place of the north. i was certain they must be there, and therefore gave way to the remonstrances of wiser heads, and retired to a distance to watch their issuing forth. the firing of the guns in the lower part of the park had ceased, and we were assured that the cattle would not be long before they made their appearance. and sure enough, in about half an hour, this grand herd of wild cattle came streaming out of this very wood. there were upwards of a hundred of them; and they spread themselves at equal distances across the steep glade, between this and the next wood, and commenced a steady graze, ever and anon lifting up a cautious head, to ascertain the actual absence of danger. it was a sight well worthy of a long journey to see. their number, their uniformity of colour and shape, the wild shy look of the cows, the sturdy strength of the bulls—some of them of a large size—and their clear snowy hue, which made them conspicuous for many miles distant, as we occasionally turned, on our way over the moors to wooller, and saw them still grazing in the very same spot and order. they reminded us of the herds of the sun, amongst which ulysses’ hungry crew made such havoc in the meads of trinacria.

we were told that the hunting of the bulls had been renewed by lord ossulston, the eldest son of the earl of tankerville, with whom it was a very favourite pursuit—certainly the grandest[400] species of chase yet left in britain, and the only one which the sense of danger incurred can heighten and ennoble to anything like the same level as that of hunting the tiger in india, or the bear in the northern countries of europe. it seems, as well he may, that the earl is proud of this fine herd of cattle, and, it is said, refuses on any terms to furnish any of his noble neighbours with a pair of them to stock their parks similarly. it is to be hoped that this interesting remnant of the native herd will long be preserved in its present magnificent number and purity of breed.

at the meeting of the british association for the advancement of science at newcastle, in august 1838, a paper was read on these wild cattle by mr. l. hindmarsh. the only additional facts respecting them were contained in a letter of lord tankerville to the writer. his lordship stated that nothing had for generations been known of the origin of these cattle in his family; and that they were mentioned in no family document. that there was great probability of their location there being very ancient. he describes them, as we found them, retiring into the woods on any alarm, and having a faculty of traversing the woods so quietly that it is difficult to obtain a sight of them. he states that he himself has not been able in summer time to get a sight of them for weeks together. that on the contrary, in winter time, being fed in the inner park, they become pretty familiar, and will let you go near them, especially when on horseback. his lordship describes them as very uncertain in their disposition, sometimes struck with sudden panics, and at others very fierce. “when they come down into the lower part of the park, which they do at stated hours, they move like a regiment of cavalry in single files, the bulls leading the van, or in retreat it is the bulls which bring up the rear. lord ossulston was witness to a curious way in which they took possession, as it were, of some new pasture recently laid open to them. it was in the evening about sunset. they began by lining the front of a small wood, which seemed quite alive with them, when all of a sudden, they made a dart forward altogether in a line, and charging close by him across the plain, they spread out, and after a little time began feeding.” his lordship says, “many stories might be told of hair-breadth escapes, accidents of sundry kinds from these[401] cattle,” and gives an instance of a bull attacking a keeper, whom he tossed three times, then knelt down on him, breaking several of his ribs, and would soon have killed him, had not a number of gentlemen from the castle with rifles succeeded in destroying the furious beast, but not till they had lodged six or seven bullets in his skull.