INSTINCT 191 



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 general disposition of individuals of the same 

 species, born in a state of nature, is extremely diversified, 

 can be shown by a multitude of facts. Several cases 

 also, could be given, of occasional and strange habits in 

 certain species, which might, if advantageous to the 

 species, give rise, through natural selection, to quite 

 new instincts. But I am well aware that these general 

 statements, without facts given in detail, can produce 

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

 repeat my assurance, that I do not speak without good 

 evidence. 



The possibility, or even probability, or inherited 

 variations of instinct in a state of nature will be 

 strengthened by briefly considering a few cases under 

 domestication. We shall thus also be enabled to see 

 the respective parts which habit and the selection of so- 

 called accidental variations have played in modifying 

 the mental qualities of our domestic animals. A number 

 of curious and authentic instances could be given of the 

 inheritance of all shades of disposition and tastes, and 

 likewise of the oddest tricks, associated with certain 

 frames of mind or periods of time. But let us look to 

 the familiar case of the several breeds of dogs : it 

 cannot be doubted that young pointers (I have myself 

 seen a striking instance) will sometimes point and even 

 back other dogs the very first time that they are taken 

 out ; retrieving is certainly in some degree inherited by 

 retrievers ; and a tendency to run round, instead of at, 

 a flock of sheep, by shepherd-dogs. I cannot see that 

 these actions, performed without experience by the 

 young, and in nearly the same manner by each indi- 

 vidual, performed with eager delight by each breed, and 

 without the end being known, — for the young pointer 

 can no more know that he points to aid his master, 

 than the white butterfly knows why she lays her eggs 

 on the leaf of the cabbage, — I cannot see that these 



