260 SEXUAL SELECTION: MAMMALS. [Part II. 



In regard to horses, Mr. Blenkiron, the greatest breed- 

 er of race-horses in the world, 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 fa- 

 mous Monarque, for instance, would never consciously 

 look at the dam of Gladiateur, and a trick had to be prac- 

 tised. 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 43 quotes various statemei its from French 

 authorities, and remarks, " On voit des etalons qui s'e- 

 prennent d'une jument, et negligent toutes les a litres." 

 lie gives, on the authority of Baelen, similar facts in re- 

 gard to bulls. Hoffbero;, in describing the domesticated 

 reindeer of Lapland, says, " Famiine majores et fortiores 

 mares prse caeteris admittunt, ad eos confugiunt, a juniori- 

 bus agitata?, qui hos in fugam conjiciunt." 44 A clergyman, 

 who has bred many pigs, assures me that sows often reject 

 one boar and immediately accept another. 



From these facts there can be no doubt that with most 

 of our domesticated quadrupeds strong individual antipa- 

 thies and preferences are frequently exhibited, and much 

 more commonly by the female than by the male. This 

 being the case, it is improbable that the unions of quad- 

 rupeds in a state of nature should be left to mere chance. 

 It is much more probable that the females are allured or 

 excited by particular males, who possess certain charac- 

 ters in a higher degree than other males ; but what these 

 characters are, we can seldom or never discover with ccr« 

 taint y. 



* 3 Traite de l'Hered. Nat.' torn. ii. 1850, p. 296. 

 * 4 ' Amcenitates Acad.' vol. iv. 1788, p. 100. 



