opher, whom I have consulted in
regard to the master cow, thinks it is seldom the case that one rules
all the herd, if it number many, but that there is often one that will
rule nearly all. "Curiously enough," he says, "a case like this will
often occur: No. 1 will whip No. 2; No. 2 whips No. 3; and No. 3 whips
No. 1; so around in a circle. This is not a mistake; it is often the
case. I remember," he continued, "we once had feeding out of a large
bin in the centre of the yard six cows who mastered right through in
succession from No. 1 to No. 6; _but_ No. 6 _paid off the score by
whipping No. 1._ I often watched them when they were all trying to feed
out of the box, and of course trying, dog-in-the-manger fashion, each to
prevent any other she could. They would often get in the order to do it
very systematically, since they could keep rotating about the box
till the chain happened to get broken somewhere, when there would be
confusion. Their mastership, you know, like that between nations, is
constantly changing. There are always Napoleons who hold their own
through many vicissitudes; but the ordinary cow is continually liable to
lose her foothold. Some cow she has always despised, and has often sent
tossing across the yard at her horns' ends, some pleasant morning will
return the compliment and pay off old scores."

But my own observation has been that, in herds in which there have
been no important changes for several years, the question of might gets
pretty well settled, and some one cow becomes the acknowledged ruler.

The bully of the yard is never the master, but usually a second or third
rate pusher that never loses an opportunity to hook those beneath her,
or to gore the masters if she can get them in a tight place. If such a
one can get loose in the stable, she is quite certain to do mischief.
She delights to pause in the open bars and turn and keep those behind
her at bay till she sees a pair of threatening horns pressing toward
her, when she quickly passes on. As one cow masters all, so there is one
cow that is mastered by all. These are the two extremes of the herd, the
head and the tail. Between them are all grades of authority, with none
so poor but hath some poorer to do her reverence.

The cow has evidently come down to us from a wild or semi-wild state;
perhaps is a descendant of those wild, shaggy cattle of which a small
band is still preserved in some nobleman's park in Scotland. Cuvier
seems to hav