worth notice that a
capable judge[189] has remarked that he saw no cattle in Norway like
the Highland breed, but that they more nearly resembled the Devonshire
breed.

Hence we see that three forms or species of Bos, originally inhabitants of
Europe, have been domesticated; but there is no improbability in this fact,
for the genus Bos readily yields to domestication. Besides these three
species and the zebu, the yak, the gayal, and the arni[190] (not to mention
the buffalo or genus Bubalus) have been domesticated; making altogether
seven species of Bos. The zebu and the three European species are now
extinct in a wild state, for the cattle of the _B. primigenius_ type in the
British parks can hardly be considered as truly wild. Although certain
races of cattle, domesticated at a very ancient period in Europe, are the
descendants of the three above-named fossil species, yet it does not follow
that they were here first domesticated. Those who place much reliance on
philology argue that our cattle were imported from the East.[191] But as
races of men invading any country would probably give their own names to
the breeds of cattle which they might there find domesticated, the argument
seems inconclusive. There is indirect evidence that our cattle are the
descendants of species which originally inhabited a temperate or cold
climate, but not a land long covered with snow; for our cattle, as we have
seen in the chapter on Horses, apparently have not the instinct of scraping
away the snow to get at the herbage beneath. No one could behold the
magnificent wild bulls on the bleak Falkland Islands in the southern
hemisphere, and doubt about the climate being admirably suited to them.
Azara has remarked that in the temperate regions of La Plata the cows
conceive when two years old, whilst in the much hotter country of Paraguay
they do not conceive till three years old; "from which fact," as he adds,
"one may conclude that cattle do not succeed so well in warm
countries."[192]

The above-named three fossil forms of Bos have been ranked {83} by nearly
all palaeontologists as distinct species; and it would not be reasonable to
change their denomination simply because they are now found to be the
parents of several domesticated races. But what is of most importance for
us, as showing that they deserve to be ranked as species, is that they
co-existed in different parts of Europe during the same period, and yet
kept distinct