INHERITED CHANGES OF HABIT OR INSTINCT. 231 



ing propolis, used a cement of wax and turpentine, with 

 which he had covered decorated trees. It has lately been 

 shown that bees, instead of searching for pollen, will gladly 

 use a very different substance, namely, oatmeal. Fear of 

 any particular enemy is certainly an instinctive quality, as 

 may be seen in nestling birds; though it is strengthened by 

 experience, and by the sight of fear of the same enemy in 

 other animals. The fear of man is slowly acquired, as I 

 have elsewhere shown, by the various animals which inhabit 

 desert islands ; and we see an instance of this even in Eng- 

 land, in the greater wildness of all our large birds in com- 

 parison with our small birds ; for the large birds have been 

 most persecuted by man. We may safely attribute the 

 greater wildness of our large birds to this cause ; for in 

 uninhabited islands large birds are not more fearful than 

 small ; and the magpie, so wary in England, is tame in 

 Norway, as is the hooded crow in Egypt. 



That the mental qualities of animals of the same kind, 

 born in a state of nature, vary much, could be shown by 

 many facts. Several cases could also be adduced of occa- 

 sional and strange habits in wild animals, which, if advan- 

 tageous to the species, might have given rise, through natural 

 selection, to new instincts. But I am well aware that these 

 general statements, without the facts in detail, will produce 

 but a feeble effect on the reader's mind. I can only repeat 

 my assurance, that I do not speak without good evidence. 



INHERITED CHANGES OF HABIT OR INSTINCT IN DOMES- 

 TICATED ANIMALS. 



The possibility, or even probability, of inherited varia- 

 tions of instinct in a state of nature will be strengthened 

 by briefly considering a few cases under domestication. 

 We shall thus be enabled to see the part which habit and 

 the selection of so-called spontaneous variations have played 

 in modifying the mental qualities of our domestic animals. 

 It is notorious how much domestic animals vary in their 

 mental qualities. With cats, for instance, one naturally 

 takes to catching rats, and another mice, and these ten- 

 dencies are known to be inherited. One cat, according to 

 Mr. St. John, always brought home game birds, another 

 hares or rabbits, and another hunted on marshy ground and 

 almost nightly caught woodcocks or snipes. A number of 

 curious and authentic instances could be given of various 



