Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/18

 while the horsemen rode off the bull from the rest of the herd till he stood at bay, when a marksman dismounted and shot. At some of these huntings twenty or thirty 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 persons come near the calves, they clap their heads close to the ground and lie like an 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 an hidden calf, two days old, very lean and very weak. On stroking its head it got up, pawed two or three times like an old bull, stepped back a few steps, and bolted at his legs with all its force; it then began to paw again, stepped back, and bolted as before, but, knowing its intent, and stepping aside, it missed him, fell, and was so very weak that it could not rise, tho' it made several efforts: but it had done