IV PREFACE. 



It is true that observations of tliis kind make us 

 acquainted rather with an individual than with a 

 species ; and long experience has convinced me that 

 this is not a distinction without a difference. There 

 is an idiosyncrasy in the inferior animals, I am per- 

 suaded, — not so great or varied, probably, as in Man, 

 since the more highly any faculty is developed, the 

 more susceptible it is of modification ; but — sufficient 

 to communicate individuality of character, and to 

 make the actions of one animal to differ, in some 

 degree, from those of another of the same species, 

 under similar circumstances. We commonly think 

 of the features of one Deer, or Sparrow, or Crab, as 

 exact countei*parts of those of every other Deer, or 

 Sparrow, or Crab ; yet a shepherd is able to distin- 

 guish every Sheep of his flock by its face ; those who 

 are conversant with Horses can readily detect diver- 

 sities in the expression of their eye or mouth, scarcely 

 less marked than in their human acquaintances ; and 

 I have myself noticed the same distinctness in birds. 

 When I was in Jamaica, I could tell one from an- 

 other of the wild Doves in my cages, by their ex- 

 pression of countenance alone, though perfectly alike 

 in colouring. Doubtless this individuality would be 

 much more generally perceived, if our observations 

 on animals were not so loose and cursory as they 

 usually are. And if it exists in the features^ we 

 might reasonably infer in them a parallel diversity 

 in mind (by which I mean a faculty distinct from, 



