LITMIR.BIZ

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of dragging home; that the under jaws and tongue were cut off; and that frequently the entire carcase was disjointed on the spot, the best parts only being removed. This would account for the so frequent occurrence of separate portions of the skeleton, and especially of skulls, in the bog-earth. No doubt so large an animal would not long survive in a state of freedom, after an island so limited in extent as Ireland became peopled throughout; and supposing the females to have been domesticated, it is quite conceivable that the difficulty or even danger of capturing or domesticating the males, may have caused the species soon to become extinct in captivity, when it no longer continued to exist in a wild state. Thus we may perhaps account for the certainly remarkable fact that no native Irish name has been recognised as belonging to it;—remarkable, because the Irish tongue is particularly rich in distinctive names for natural objects. There exists a very curious ancient poem in that language which professes to enumerate the whole fauna of the island. It is founded on the legend that Fian MacCumhaill was made prisoner by Cormac MacArt, king of Erinn; that the victor promised to give him freedom on condition that, as a ransom, a pair of each wild animal found in Ireland were brought before him on the green of Tara. Cailte MacRonain, the foster-brother of the captive general undertook the task, and succeeded in bringing the collection before the king within a twelvemonth; and in the poem, he is supposed to narrate to St. Patrick the detail and result of his enterprise. Of this poem, which is considered to be as early as the ninth century, the reader may like to see the following translation by Mr. Eugene Curry, containing the zoological portion:—

      "I then went forth to search the lands,

       To see if I could redeem my chief,

       And soon returned to noble Tara,

       With the ransom that Cormac required.

      "I brought with me the fierce Geilt,[28] And the tall Grib[29] with talons, And the two Ravens of Fid-dá-Beann, And the two Ducks of Loch Saileann.

      "Two Foxes from Sliabh Cuilinn,

       Two Wild Oxen[30] from Burren, Two Swans from the dark wood of Gabhran, And two Cuckoos from the wood of Fordrum.

      "Two Toghmalls[31] from Fidh-Gaibhle, Which is by the side of the two roads, And two Otters after them, From the brown-white rock of Dobhar.

      "Two Gulls from Tralee hither,

       Two Ruilechs[32] from Port Lairge (Waterford), Four Snags[33] from the River Brosna, Two Plovers from the rock of Dunán.

      "Two Echtachs[34] from the lofty Echtghe, Two Thrushes from Letter Longarie, Two Drenns[35] from Dun Aife, The two Cainches[36] of Corraivte.

      "Two Herons from the hilly Corann,

       The two Errfiachs[37] of Magh Fobhair, The two Eagles of Carrick-na-Cloch, Two Hawks from the wood of Caenach.

      "Two Pheasants from Loch Meilge,

       Two Water-hens from Loch Eirne,

       Two Heath-hens from the Bog of Mafa,

       Two Swift Divers from Dubh Loch.

      "Two Cricharans[38] from Cualann, Two Titmice from Magh Tualang, Two Choughs from Gleann Gaibhle, Two Sparrows from the Shannon.

      "Two Cormorants from Ath Cliath,

       Two Onchus[39] from Crotta Cliach, Two Jackdaws from Druim Damh, Two Riabhogs[40] from Leathan Mhaigh.

      "Two Rabbits from Dumho Duinn,

       Two wild Hogs from circular Cnoghbha,

       Two Peatáns[41] from Creat Roe, Two wild Boars[42] from green-sided Tara.

      "Two Pigeons out of Ceis Corann,

       Two Blackbirds out of Leitir Finnchoill,

       Two black Birds (?) from the strand of Dabhan,

       Two Roebucks from Luachair Deaghaidh.

      "Two Fereidhins[43] from Ath Loich, Two Fawns from Moin mor, Two Bats out of the Cave of Cnoghbha, Two Pigs[44] from the lands of Ollarbha.

      "Two Swallows out of Sidh Buidhe,

       Two Iaronns[45] from the wood of Luadraidh, Two Geisechtachs[46] from Magh Mall, Two charming Robins from Cnamh Choill.

      "Two Woodcocks from Coillruadh,

       Two Crows from Lenn Uar,

       Two Bruacharans[47] from Sliabh-da-Ean, Two Barnacle-Geese from Turloch Bruigheoil.

      "Two Naescans[48] from Dun Daighre, Two Yellow-ammers from the brink of Bairne, Two Spireogs[49] from Sliabh Cleath, Two Grey Mice from Limerick.

      "Two Corncrakes from the Banks of Shannon,

       Two Wagtails from the brinks of Birra,

       Two Curlews from the Harbour of Galway,

       Two Sgreachógs[50] from Muirtheimhne.

      "Two Geilt Glinnes[51] from Glenn-a-Smoil, Two Jackdaws from great Ath Mogha, Two fleet Onchus[52] from Loch Con, Two Cats out of the Cave of Cruachain.

      "Two Goats from Sith Gabhran,

       Two Pigs[53] of the Pigs of Mac Lir, A Ram and Ewe both round and red, I brought with me from Aengus.

      "I brought with me a Stallion and a Mare,

       From the beautiful stud of Manannan,

       A Bull and a white Cow from Druim Cain,

       Which were given me by Muirn Munchain."

      No known allusion occurs in this poem to the Giant Deer.[54] First, however, we must remember that no small number of the animals mentioned are quite unrecognisable; and that of those names to which an explanation is given, many are probably incorrectly rendered. Secondly, if it could be absolutely shewn that no allusion exists to that fine beast, it would not at all disprove its existence a thousand years before. Supposing that the Megaceros became extinct soon after the colonisation of Ireland, and that this was several centuries before the Christian era, the distinctive name by which it had been known might well have died out and become extinct also, among a people unacquainted with letters. Or if a dim tradition of the animal and of its name still lingered here and there, it might well be omitted from a catalogue which professed to give the creatures actually collected in a living state at a given period. It would have been interesting to have been able to identify the Great Elk, but its introduction would have been a glaring anachronism.

      

      The enumeration of nearly a hundred and sixty quadrupeds and birds either indigenous to or naturalised in Ireland at so early a period, possesses, I say, a peculiar interest.

      If the editor's suggestion is correct, that the Echtach was a bovine animal, then we have three distinct mentions of this family in the poem—the Wild Oxen, the Echtachs, and the Bull and White Cow. The second and third of these were probably domesticated animals; the first one expressly "Wild." Now at least five distinct species of Oxen are known to have inhabited Europe and the British Isles during the later periods of the Tertiary era, which have been named respectively, Bison priscus, Bos primigenius, frontosus and longifrons, and Ovibos moschatus. Of these, skulls of Bos frontosus and B. longifrons have been dug up in some numbers in Ireland. Some of these bear, in the perforation of the forehead, evident proof of having been slaughtered secundum artem, and therefore of having been domesticated. But one large skull of the longifrons type, now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, has a cut in the forehead, into which can be accurately fitted several of the narrow bronze "celts," or arrow-heads so frequently dug up in Ireland; a pretty fair proof that this animal was killed by the hunter's arrow, and was therefore wild.

      No bovine animals of the true taurine race are now known to exist in an aboriginally wild state; but at the epoch of our earliest historical knowledge of central and western Europe it was far otherwise. Cæsar, describing, under the name of Urus, certain wild oxen of the great Hercynian forest, says, "These Uri are little inferior to elephants

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