As the Welshman's account of the Manks black cattle in his time is curious, I again quote his words: “Their beeves in general are, by consequence, little, low, small, and poor, and no marvel, for they feed, in most parts, in heathy grounds, lying continually in the open fields; neither is any hay or fodder given them. Those that graze by the sea-shore, or near thereunto, are observed every day, of themselves, to go down in companies, nature and necessity only guiding them, and there will they expect the ebbing of the tide water, to have the benefit of eating the sea-tangle. The cattle do more willingly, yea, I may say, more greedily feed on those weeds than upon grass or hay; and it is to be observed that those cows that feed on them are far fairer, bigger bodied, fatter, and give more milk than those in the inland parts, that have not the same commodity for their saturation, sustenation, and nourishment." The cattle at present met with in the Island are a mixture of the breeds of different countries, particularly of England and Scotland.

The Isle of Man has also an indigenous breed of sheep, termed, in the language of the country, Loaghtyn,2 which signifies a brownish colour. These hardy little creatures are of mean appearance, with a high back, narrow ribs, and tails somewhat resembling that of a goat. A writer of the sixteenth century says, "The Manks sheep have tails of almost incredible magnitude." In the whole breed, a general distinctive mark is said to appear in a brownish coloured patch on the back of the neck.1

1 "It was singular to see the Manks cows feeding greedily on tangle." I fancy he was near-sighted, and took the great hogs for small cows; for those go regularly to the shore on the recess of the tide, not to feed upon tangle, but upon small crabs brought in with it. These they devour with great greediness.-Townley's Journal, vol. ii, p. 106.

3 Hollinshead's Chronicles of England, vol. i, p. 38.-Appendix Wood, p. 42.Harrison's Description of Britain, p. 38.

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"They have a remarkable kind of sheep called Loaghtyn, which is one of the greatest natural rarities in the country."-Sacheverell's Account of the Isle of Man, London, 1702.

In traversing the Island in the summer of 1836, I could only observe, in the uplands, a few of these starved looking animals. They are generally kept throughout the year on the waste lands, and whether they really produce any profit to the owner seems doubtful. Mr. Quayle did not underrate their value in saying, "When shorn, eight fleeces, unwashed, average seven pounds of wool."

2

The same breed of sheep appears in St. Kilda, one of the most remote isles of the Hebrides, and likewise in Iceland, from which it may be inferred that they are of Norwegian origin. The esteem in which cloth or stockings made of loaghtyn wool is held by the Manks, from a sort of national pride, leads to the preservation of sheep of this colour. From the great influx, however, of foreign breeds, this particular race is in danger of being soon lost; parliament having permitted an annual exportation of 300 sheep from Great Britain into the Isle of Man.

It appears from the statute book, that these loaghtyn sheep were formerly so wild that they could not be brought into the fold, for the purpose of taking the tithe. "Every one that hath wild sheep or lambs that cannot be brought to fold, then the proctor hath used to depose them upon a book what wool and lambs they have, and so to pay truly the tithe thereof."3

Moles, badger, and foxes are now unknown in the Isle

1 Quayle's Agricultural View, p. 43. "The natives pretend that there is a great uncertainty in regard of these sheep; but some, curious in this respect, have found it would be very practicable to have whole flocks of this breed, and with some industry and care, make a very profitable manufacture."-Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, Dublin edition, 1775, vol. ii, p. 534.

2 Martin's Voyage to St. Kilda, p. 27. A singular custom is mentioned by Martin in his Description of the Western Isles, p. 109, which, I am informed, once prevailed in Man, although I cannot say, with certainty, that it did so. "In the event of sheep having twin lambs, beside the ordinary rent paid, one of them was to go to the laird, who, on his part, was obliged, if any of the tenant's wives had twins, to take one of them into his own family." Mr. Martin knew a gentleman who had sixteen of these twins in his house at one time.-Appendix Toland's History of the Druids, London, 1726, p. 172.

3 Old Spiritual Laws and Customs, Lex Scripta, p. 54.

of Man; but Cronkshynnagh, the name of an estate in the parish of Arbory, signifying, in the Manks language, "the hill of the fox," implies that reynard was formerly a denizen of the Island.

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According to my friend, Mr. Forbes, the only quadruped peculiar to the Island, of which it can boast, is the tail-less cat, called in Manks, Stubbin," and in English, “a Rumpy." This is, he thinks, an accidental variety of the common species felis catus, frequently showing no traces of caudal vertebræ, and others merely a rudimental substitute for it. There is a tradition still current in the Island, that the first rumpy cat seen there was cast on shore from a foreign vessel that was wrecked on the rocks at Spanish Head, but at what period no one pretends to say. A modern author speaks with more certainty by affirming that the rumpy is the genuine aboriginal cat of the Island.* As a mouser, the rumpy is preferred to all others of its kind. Formerly when cats were scarce in Europe, the rumpy would have brought a high price. In Wales the value of a cat was fixed by law, and the same regulation extended to the Isle of Man, when under the rule of the Cambrian Princes. The Manks rumpy resembles somewhat in appearance the cats said by Sir Stamford Raffles to be peculiar to the Malayan Archipelago.

Of late

1 Natural History of the Isle of Man, by Edward Forbes; Quiggin's Isle of Man p. 40.

Guide,

A Six Days' Tour in the Isle of Man, in 1836, p. 151.

3 Sir William Jardine's Naturalist's Library," Mammalia," vol. ii, p. 243.

The price of a kitten, before it could see, was a penny; after it could see, and before it caught a mouse, two-pence; and after it had caught a mouse, four-pence; which was a large sum in the tenth century. It was required, besides being a good mouser, that it should be perfect in its senses of hearing and seeing, and likewise should have good claws. If it failed in any of these qualities, the seller was to forfeit to the buyer the third part of its value. If any one stole or killed the cat that guarded the prince's granary, he was to forfeit a milk ewe, its fleece, and lamb, or as much wheat as, when poured on the cat suspended by the tail, the head touching the floor, would form a heap high enough to cover the tip of the tail.-Laws of Hywell Dha, folio edition, London, 1730.

1 Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, London edit., 1827, vol. ii, p. 489.

years, many rumpies have been carried out of the Island as curiosities by visitors. I have had one in my possession for upwards of four years-a circumstance which has afforded me an opportunity of observing the habits of the animal.'

1 My observations on the structure and habits of the specimen in my possession, leave little doubt on my mind of its being a mule, or crossed between the female cat and the buck rabbit. In August, 1837, I procured a female rumpy kitten, direct from the Island. Both in its appearance and habits it differs much from the common house cat: the head is smaller in proportion, and the body is short; a fud or brush like that of a rabbit, about an inch in length, extending from the lower vertebra, is the only indication it has of a tail. The hind legs are considerably longer than those of the common cat, and, in comparison with the fore legs, bear a marked similarity in proportion to those of the rabbit. Like this animal too, when about to fight, it springs from the ground and strikes with its fore and hind feet at the same time. The common cat strikes only with its fore paws, standing on its hind legs. The rumpy discharges its urine in a standing posture, like a rabbit, and can be carried by the ears apparently without pain. Like every species of the felinæ, it is carniverous and fond of fish, and is an implacable enemy to rats and mice. My little oddity was six months old before it saw a mouse, but when a dead one was exhibited, it instantly displayed all the characteristics of a practised mouser. It has never had any offspring, although the common cat propagates its species when about twelve months' old. Indeed, on this subject, although I have made many inquiries, I have not been able to establish a single instance in which a female rumpy was known to produce young. My opinion, as to the origin of the rumpy, has been strengthened by a coincident circumstance connected with this district. A few years ago, John Cunningham, Esq., of Hensol, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, stocked a piece of waste land on his estate with rabbits, which multiplied rapidly. In the immediate neighourhood

There are, also, a few barn-door rumpy fowls in the Island, but the species is common to the Hebrides at large. Their eggs are said to be of a different shape from those of other hens, being alike thick and round at each end.

In the time of the Commonwealth of England, the king's forest was stocked with red deer;' and in the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Earl of Derby sent over fallow and red deer to propagate in the Calf. The tide runs with such rapidity through the narrow channel called the Race, which separates the Calf from the mainland,3 that no vessel can stem the current, yet the deer so frequently made their way across this dangerous passage, and in such formidable numbers, to pillage the corn of the farmers on the mainland, whether it was in the field, the barn-yard, or on the shilling-hill, that these depredations were finally the cause of their extinction in the Island, as well as in the Calf.

The Manks hares are said to be remarkably large. Pennant, who visited the Island, remarks, "That hares differ much in size, the smallest are in the Isle of Islay, the largest in the Isle of Man, where some have been

of this warren rumpy cats are now plentiful, although previously altogether unknown in the locality. Not a doubt seems to exist as to the nature of their origin. I am afraid the known facilities which exist in the Isle of Man, for giving effect to this opinion as to the origin of the rumpy, may go far to dissipate the cherished belief of the Islanders, in its being a distinct genus. At the same time I am far from wishing my statements to be understood as settling the question. My opportunities of observation have induced this general opinion of their origin, but, as it is possible many local objections may be taken to its reception, I would willingly avail myself of any authenticated communication on this head, before the final publication of my work. I have no wish, apart from the discovery of truth, to deprive the Island of this, or any of its peculiarities.

1 Chaloner; Appendix Wood's History of the Isle of Man, p. 26.

2 Sacheverell, p. 6; Robertson's Tour through the Isle of Man, in 1791, p. 135. 3 The channel that separates the two Islands is about a mile wide ; abounds with dark hidden rocks, the passage made more difficult by a small Island called the Kitterland, and the tide is so strong that vessels can seldom get through it without being driven sideways or stern foremost.-Townley's Journal, vol. i, pp. 60, 61.—[The distance of the Calf from the mainland is, we are informed, about 300 or 400 yards.— AUTHOR.]