B l a i r A t h o l l , P e r t h s h i r e .— A small herd of White Cattle with black
points— muzzle, fetlocks, and ears— formerly existed at Blair Castle. These were
sold in 1834, some going to the Marquis of Breadalbane at Taymouth and others to
the Duke of Buccleuch at Dalkeith. A remnant of these survivors afterwards found
their way to Kilmory in Argyllshire, the property of Sir John Orde, who to save
the breed crossed them with West Highland cattle. The survivors of these,
again, were bought by Mr! Duff Assheton Smith, who, with other introductions
from Cadzow, succeeded in establishing a fine herd at Vaynol in Wales.
* B u c k l i n g .— See M i d d l e t o n P a r k .
B u r t o n C o n s t a b l e , Y o r k s h i r e .— Storer’ says that the cattle which formerly
existed here were probably brought from some other place. The only description
of this herd Ufrom the pen of Thomas Bewick, who in 1790 wrote of them as
being recently extinct. He says: 'Those at Burton Constable,,in the County of
York, were all destroyed by a distemper a few years since. They varied slightly
from those at Chillingham, having black ears and muzzles, and the tips of their
tails of the same colour. They were also much larger, many of them weighing
sixty stone; probably owing to the richness of the pasturage in Holderness, but
generally attributed to the difference of kind between those with blaqk and with
red ears the former of which they studiously endeavoured to preserve.’
* C a d z o w C a s t l e , L a n a r k s h i r e .— The seat of the Dukes of Hamilton originally
formed a part of the old Caledonian Forest,, and it still retains its ‘ Wild Cattle
and some of the old gnarled oaks as evidences of its pristine grandeur. Here,
?nrording- to tradition, Robert Bruce in 1320 hunted the wild bull,1 where two
centuries later James IV. of Scotland enjoyed a similar sport. The familiar
quotation relating to these cattle from Sir Walter Scott* in his ballad of ‘ Cadyow
Castle,’ if somewhat poetical, is none the less beautiful:
1 The Wild White Cattle o f Great Britain, pp. 354, 255. . . . . . .. . ■
* Hector Boece telle the story of the narrow escape of King Robert Brace whrle, with a small tram, he was hunting the
wild bull in the forest, and how the king’s deliverer received the name of TarMmll for ins prowess at the cnncal B For
a t e the beast felt himself sore wounded by the hunters he rushed upon the t a g , who having no weapon left in his hand
wherewith to defend himself, he had surely perished, if rescue had not come Howbeit m this dutessi one came running unto
him who overthrew the bull by plain force, and held him down till the hunters came tlmt I B F”
variant act the king endowed the aforesaid party with great possessions, and his lineage is to Uns day called of the Turnbulls,
because he overturned the beast and saved the king's life by such great prowess and manhood. . . . . . I • The mmHmasmm ■ 1P. H B m a H §3 d m «
account of their ferodty, an error which both Sir Walter Scott (la y o fth e la a t Minstrel, Svo. .809, notes, p. 40) and the
brothers Stuart (Lays o f the D ter Forest\ vol. il p. 225) fall into.