44 THE DESCENT OF MAN. Part I. 



The principle of Imitation is strong in man, and 

 especially in man in a barbarous state. Desor 10 has 

 remarked that no animal voluntarily imitates an action 

 performed by man, until in the ascending scale we 

 come to monkeys, which are well-known to be ridiculous 

 mockers. Animals, however, sometimes imitate each 

 others' actions : thus two species of wolves, which had 

 been reared by dogs, learned to bark, as does some- 

 times the jackal, 11 but whether this can be called volun- 

 tary imitation is another question. From one account 

 which I have read, there is reason to believe that puppies 

 nursed by cats sometimes learn to lick their feet and 

 thus to clean their faces : it is at least certain, as I hear 

 from a perfectly trustworthy friend, that some dogs 

 behave in this manner. Birds imitate the songs of their 

 parents, and sometimes those of other birds ; and par- 

 rots are notorious imitators of any sound which they 

 often hear. 



Hardly any faculty is more important for the intel- 

 lectual progress of man than the power of Attention. 

 Animals clearly manifest this power, as when a cat 

 watches by a hole and prepares to spring on its prey. 

 Wild animals sometimes become so absorbed when thus 

 engaged, that they may be easily approached. Mr. 

 Bartlett has given me a curious proof how variable this 

 faculty is in monkeys. A man who trains monkeys to 

 act used to purchase common kinds from the Zoological 

 Society at the price of five pounds for each ; but he 

 offered to give double the price, if he might keep three 

 or four of them for a few days, in order to select one. 

 When asked how he could possibly so soon learn whether 



10 Quoted by Vogt, ' Memoire sur les Microce'pkales,' 1867, p. 168. 



11 ' The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,' vol. 

 i. p. 27. 



