ir cattle perished. It
was not so much the want of food as the inability to endure exposure
that caused their death; a few winters are related to have so reduced
them that they died by hundreds, many mangled by dogs. The hardiest that
remained became perfectly wild, and the wood cattle are now more
difficult to approach than deer.

There are two kinds, the white and the black. The white (sometimes dun)
are believed to be the survivors of the domestic roan-and-white, for the
cattle in our enclosures at the present day are of that colour. The
black are smaller, and are doubtless little changed from their state in
the olden times, except that they are wild. These latter are timid,
unless accompanied by a calf, and are rarely known to turn upon their
pursuers. But the white are fierce at all times; they will not, indeed,
attack man, but will scarcely run from him, and it is not always safe to
cross their haunts.

The bulls are savage beyond measure at certain seasons of the year. If
they see men at a distance, they retire; if they come unexpectedly face
to face, they attack. This characteristic enables those who travel
through districts known to be haunted by white cattle to provide against
an encounter, for, by occasionally blowing a horn, the herd that may be
in the vicinity is dispersed. There are not often more than twenty in a
herd. The hides of the dun are highly prized, both for their intrinsic
value, and as proofs of skill and courage, so much so that you shall
hardly buy a skin for all the money you may offer; and the horns are
likewise trophies. The white or dun bull is the monarch of our forests.

Four kinds of wild pigs are found. The most numerous, or at least the
most often seen, as it lies about our enclosures, is the common
thorn-hog. It is the largest of the wild pigs, long-bodied and
flat-sided, in colour much the hue of the mud in which it wallows. To
the agriculturist it is the greatest pest, destroying or damaging all
kinds of crops, and routing up the gardens. It is with difficulty kept
out by palisading, for if there be a weak place in the wooden framework,
the strong snout of the animal is sure to undermine and work a passage
through.

As there are always so many of these pigs round about inhabited places
and cultivated fields, constant care is required, for they instantly
discover an opening. From their habit of haunting the thickets and bush
which come up to the verge of the enclosures, they ha