272 SEXUAL SELECTION : MAMMALS. Par'i II. 



a great breeder of dogs, informs me that he has known 

 some instances ; he cites the case of one of his own 

 deer-honnds, who wonld not take any notice of a par- 

 ticular female mastiff, so that another deer-hound had 

 to be employed. It would be superfluous to give other 

 cases, and I will only add that Mr. Barr, who has care- 

 fully bred many blood-hounds, states that in almost 

 every instance particular individuals of the opposite 

 sex shew a decided preference for each other. Finally 

 Ml". Cupples, after attending to this subject for another 

 year, has recently written to me, " I have had full con- 

 " firmation of my former statement, that dogs in breed- 

 " ing form decided preferences for each other, being 

 " oiten influenced by size, bright colour, and individual 

 " character, as well as by the degree of their previous 

 '' familiarity." 



In regard to horses, Mr. Blenkiron, the greatest 

 breeder of race-horses in the \\orld, informs me that 

 stallions are so frequently capricious in their choice, 

 rejecting one mare and without any apparent cause 

 taking to another, that various artifices have to be 

 habitually used. The famous Monarque, for instance, 

 would never consciously iook at the dam of Gladiateur, 

 and a trick had to be practised. We can partly see the 

 reason why valuable race-horse stallions, which are in 

 such demand, should be so particular in their choice. 

 Mr. Blenkiron has never known a mare to reject a 

 horse ; but this has occurred in Mr. Wright's stable, 

 so that the mare had to be cheated. Prosper Lucas '^^ 

 quotes various statements from French authorities, and 

 remarks, " On voit des etalons qui seprennent d'une 

 " jument, et negligent toutes les autres." He gives, on 

 the authority of Baelen, similar facts in regard to bulls. 



« ' Traite de I'Hered. Nat.' torn. ii. 1850, p. 296. 



