Part 5

The splendid condition in which the preserve is kept, and the large amount of work already accomplished in the matter of road-making and drainage, afford abundant testimony to the energy and capacity of Mr. Sokalski, the director. A word of commendation may likewise be bestowed on the relatively high degree of education of the foresters, who display a knowledge of zoology and botany conspicuous by its absence among most English game-keepers. Nearly all of these men are acquainted with the scientific names of the commoner animals and plants to be met with in the forest; and they know all the berries and funguses which are good for food, as well as those to be shunned.

While on this point I may venture to put in a novel plea in favour of the retention of the old-fashioned type of scientific nomenclature. My German (so far as conversation is concerned) is but limited, while of Polish my knowledge is nil. And yet, despite these drawbacks, I was able to acquire from the director and the foresters a good knowledge of the denizens of the forest by means of their scientific names. If, however, I had known the white stork only by its modern designation of Ciconia ciconia, instead of by its old-fashioned title of Ciconia alba (and so in other cases), a great deal of such conversation would have been impossible.

Before bringing these notes to a close it will not, perhaps, be out of place to devote a few lines to the domesticated ponies and cattle of the district, as it was one of the objects of my trip to endeavour to ascertain whether these respectively exhibited any special resemblances to the wild Przewalski horses (or rather ponies) of the Gobi Desert, and to the extinct wild ox, or aurochs, which, as already mentioned, lingered longer in Poland than elsewhere.

I have already published these observations in the Field.

A very noticeable feature among the cattle of the district is the prevalence of black, dark brown, and black-and-white; equally noteworthy being the frequency among the piebald individuals of a broad white line down the middle of the back. A similar white band also characterizes many of the rufous or fawn-coloured types, which, on the assumption of descent from the aurochs, must be regarded as retrograde derivatives from the black (or black-and-white) phase. Herberstain described the wild aurochs as being black with a broad light-coloured band down the middle line of the back; and it thus seems highly probable that in the white dorsal line of the partially albinistic Polish cattle we have a distinct survival of the ancestral type of colouring. Among the black-and-white cattle of Holland such a conspicuous white band seems less common, and the same is the case with English shorthorns. Major Barrett-Hamilton tells me, however, that it may be observed in some Kerry cattle. The horns of the ordinary Volhynian cattle, although small, are of the aurochs type.

The large white, or rather pale cream-coloured, Podolian cattle do not seem to extend much to the north of Schepetowka. At the Berlin Zoological Gardens I learnt an interesting point in connection with these cattle, namely, that while the oxen, cows, and calves are wholly white, the old bulls have black muzzles and ears, as well as a certain amount of black on the face and limbs. As black in the Javan wild ox or bantin (Bos sondaicus), to say nothing of many antelopes, is developed only in the adult males, it seems highly probable that the black points of the Podolian bulls may be the last vestiges of the aurochs-colouring in this albinistic breed. In connection with this, it occurs to me that the red specimens of the aurochs which have been described may have been cows, as it is quite probable that, in some cases at any rate, the females may have been in the same stage of colour-evolution as the cow bantin.

The country ponies are for the most part uniformly bay, dull chestnut, or mouse-coloured, with the tail well haired to the root. Occasionally a pale brown dorsal stripe is observable; but white “stockings” and a white star on the forehead (which are both regarded by Professor Ridgeway as indicative of Arab blood) are very rare, and I saw no trace of dark barrings on the legs. The callosities or “chestnuts” on the hind-legs appear to be always small. In general characters these ponies seem to approximate to the now extinct half-bred and mouse-coloured wild tarpan of the Kirghiz steppes, rather than to the dun Przewalski type of the Gobi Desert, which is apparently the true tarpan. I hope to be able to write more definitely with regard to this point on a later occasion, as Count Potocki has kindly promised to send to the Natural History Branch of the British Museum a couple of skulls of these small country ponies, which will enable it to be determined whether the cheek-teeth in this breed are of the large relative size characteristic of the wild Gobi race.

Greater diversity of colour occurs among the larger ponies or horses, used for riding and travelling--probably due to a larger infusion of foreign blood. Among these I saw one of the yellow dun Norwegian type, in which the hind-chestnuts were not larger than peas.

Indisputable evidence of near kinship with the wild boar is displayed by the domesticated pigs of the country, especially the numerous black individuals, which have a thick coat of bristly hairs, developed into a more or less conspicuous mane or crest along the nape and back. Whether, as I am informed is the case with some domesticated Hungarian swine, they have striped young, I did not ascertain.

Of the smaller wild mammals I saw none except a squirrel (kept in confinement at Antoniny), which belonged to that race of the species in which the tail in autumn is blackish brown.

Our ten days’ residence, favoured for the most part with ideal weather, amid the glorious Pilawin forest came to a close on Wednesday, September 4, on the afternoon of which day we started for the railway, en route for Warsaw and London.

In conclusion I may be permitted to take the opportunity of tendering to Count and Countess Potocki the best thanks of my daughter and myself for a most delightful visit, the interest of which is enhanced by the fact that we are the first English people who have enjoyed the privilege of making “a Trip to Pilawin.”

Printed by R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Pages xiv and 54 (originally 56): The illustration’s caption, “AN ASIATIC (? SAYANSK) WAPITI.” was printed with the question mark.