Specimens
continued within the memory of man to be kept at least at three houses
of distinction--Hamilton, namely, Drumlanrig, and Cumbernauld. They had
degenerated from the ancient race in size and strength, if we are to
judge from the accounts of old chronicles, and from the formidable
remains frequently discovered in bogs and morasses when drained and laid
open. The bull had lost the shaggy honours of his mane, and the race was
small and light made, in colour a dingy white, or rather a pale yellow,
with black horns and hoofs. They retained, however, in some measure,
the ferocity of their ancestry, could not be domesticated on account
of their antipathy to the human race, and were often dangerous if
approached unguardedly, or wantonly disturbed. It was this last reason
which has occasioned their being extirpated at the places we have
mentioned, where probably they would otherwise have been retained as
appropriate inhabitants of a Scottish woodland, and fit tenants for
a baronial forest. A few, if I mistake not, are still preserved
at Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, the seat of the Earl of
Tankerville.
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