THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CATTLE. [To THE EDITOR or THZ "SPECTATOR. "]
SIR,—In your issue of September 14th there is an article under the above heading. It recalled to my mind a remark- able instance of sagacity in a cow which came under my notice nearly thirty years ago in a field three or four miles from Hereford.
A friend (since dead) was walking with me through the fields when our attention was attracted by the excited bellow- ing of a large, big-horned cow of the Hereford breed in the next field. Presently she burst through the hedge, and, seeing us, ceased bellowing, but made down upon us until within thirty yards' distance, which she kept, while we, with one eye on her, quietly walked to a gate and through it into another field, closing the gate behind us. Finding she could not get through to us, she roused the echoes once again. We were puzzled at her behaviour, and resolved to unravel the mystery if possible. We walked along one side of a hedge, the cow silently keep- ing up with us on the other side for about forty yards, when she stopped and loudly gave vent to her feelings again. On our returning to the spot—still on our side of the hedge—the cow was quiet ; but, on our moving off again, she bellowed vociferously. At last, bent on discovering the cause of all this, I clambered up to the hedge and looked through a small gap. Here was the solution of the problem. In a. deep ditch under the spot where the cow was standing lay a very small calf, which could not escape, nor could the mother render any aid. Surely this cow was as " knowing " as a horse or a dog exercising a marvellous instinct to rescue its "child "? To end my story, we called at a farm close by, and a farm hand went to the rescue of the "fallen victim."—I am, Sir, &c., St. Mary's, Woolton.
VINCENT CORNET.
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