6 THE MAMMALS, REPTILES, AND FISHES OF ESSEX.
Wood in tymes paste was empaled ; and the Erles of
Oxenforde in former tymes (for their pleasure) bredd
and maintayned wilde Swyne in the same untill the
Reigne of King Henry the Eight. About wch tyme
they were destroied by John then Erle of Oxenford,
for that he understode that the Inhabitants therabout
sustained by them very great Losse and Damage."
Neither is it intended to give here any lengthy
notices of the domestic animals in the county. Yet,
since, in other parts of the kingdom, there exist peculiar
breeds of such antiquity as almost to appear indi-
genous, it may be well to explain briefly why we have
none here. Devoid as we are of special districts
requiring special varieties of domestic animals, these
have not been produced in answer to a want which
has never existed. It is true that some of these
peculiar breeds have been so altered by crossing that,
in the endeavour to meet later methods of agricul-
ture, they have lost their original characters ; but the
greater number of local breeds are so suited to the
individual conditions of their district that it has not
been found either desirable or profitable to exchange
them for any other, even when a given breed has
elsewhere been found more economical or useful.
For instance, the generally-useful Shorthorn Ox, with
its valuable capacity for early maturity, can never
replace the Black Cattle of Pembroke, nor those