Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/15

 of British cattle have been struck by the phenomenon that, while the vast majority have been domesticated for many centuries, there still exists in England and Scotland a small number of herds which, though they have been enclosed in parks and thus far partially tamed, have never yet, to all appearance, been brought under the yoke.

At the present day these herds are few, but it has been shown that, in former times, such herds existed in certain parts of the country in considerable number. The likeness of these wild cattle to some of our domestic breeds has been frequently commented upon. Some writers have remarked their resemblance to the so-called creamy- white Highlanders, the white cattle of Wales, and the white-coloured Shorthorns; others have noticed that their horns were like those of the black breeds of Ireland and Wales, and, in less degree, like those of the red-coloured cattle of Devon; while some have seen in these wild white cattle a strong resemblance, both in size and shape, to the modern Ayrshires.

These resemblances led many writers to conclude that the wild white cattle, and most of our domestic breeds, are of the self-same race, descended from the same original stock, and that, while in bygone times the ancestors of the domestic ones had been captured and tamed, the