50 THE DESCENT OF MAN. Part I. 



pursued, they exhibit, according to the unanimous tes- 

 timony of all observers, an almost incredible amount 

 of sagacity, caution, and cunning ; but trapping has 

 been there so long carried on that inheritance may have 

 come into play. 



If we look to successive generations, or to the race, 

 there is no doubt that birds and other animals gradually 

 both acquire and lose caution in relation to man or 

 other enemies ; 19 and this caution is certainly in chief 

 part an inherited habit or instinct, but in part the result 

 of individual experience. A good observer, Leroy, 20 

 states that in districts where foxes are much hunted, 

 the vouno* when thev first leave their burrows are in- 

 contestably much more wary than the old ones in dis- 

 tricts where they are not much disturbed. 



Our domestic dogs are descended from wolves and 

 jackals, 21 and though they may not have gained in 

 cunning, and may have lost in waryness and suspicion, 

 yet they have progressed in certain moral qualities, 

 such as in affection, trust-worthiness, temper, and pro- 

 bably in general intelligence. The common rat has 

 conquered and beaten several other species through- 

 out Europe, in parts of North America, New Zealand, 

 and recently in Formosa, as well as on the mainland of 

 China. Mr. Swinhoe, 22 who describes these latter cases, 

 attributes the victory of the common rat over the large 

 Mus coninga to its 'superior cunning; and this latter 

 quality may be attributed to the habitual exercise of 

 all its faculties in avoiding extirpation by man, as well 



19 ' Journal of Researches during the Voyage of the " Beagle," ' 184f>, 

 p. 398. ' Origin of Species,' 5th edit. p. 260. 



20 ' Lettres Phil, sur l'lntelligence des Animaux,' nouvelle edit. 

 1802, p. 86. 



21 See the evidence on this head in chap. i. vol. i. ' On the Variation 

 of Animals and Plants under Domestication.' 



22 ' Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1864, p. 186. 



