238 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



tropical species which will prove to have an equal tolerance 

 of high latitudes. If this be true we may fairly look to the 

 domestication of the varied bird life of the equatorial regions 

 for the enrichment of our northern lands. Even when it 

 may not be desirable to bring these species to the state of 

 complete subjugation they may be introduced on something 

 like the terms which have been given and accepted in the case 

 of the so-called English pheasant, which has brought to the 

 high north of Britain and some parts of this country an 

 element of grace which is afforded by no indigenous form 

 of North America or Europe. There are hundreds of beau- 

 tiful tropical species which await reconciliation with men ; 

 they have that quality of sympathy which affords the nat- 

 ural foundations for the contract, but this has in no case 

 been availed of except when the creatures, in addition to 

 their aesthetic charm, have possessed some economic value. 

 There as elsewhere in the matter of domestication the com- 

 mercial motive has controlled our action. 



In forming our societies as we are in time to do, account 

 must be taken of the sympathetic value of its elements, 

 reckoning among these the animals which the system brings 

 in contact with men. Much of the culture which has served 

 to lift our race above its ancient savagery has been derived 

 from the influence of domesticated animals ; in proportion 

 as these creatures have sympathetically responded to our 

 care we have been thereby educated and our spiritual devel- 

 opment advanced. So far as in our further choice of animals 

 which are to be associated with ourselves we are guided 

 by a desire to extend this work, we may well turn our 

 attention towards the birds, for in that group we may find a 

 greater number of species which have attained the physical 



