274 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



ficially apart in twenty different grooves the 

 animals all revert to the one old simple groove in 

 which they were first found by man. This much 

 may then be said in favour of the dog: he is plastic. 

 The plasticity is probably due to domestication, to 

 the variety of conditions to which he is subjected 

 as man's companion in all regions of the globe, 

 the selection which separates and preserves new 

 varieties as they arise, and the crossing again of 

 widely separated breeds. That he is plastic must 

 be our excuse for determining to make the most 

 we can of him to the complete exclusion of all 

 other species, which might or might not prove 

 plastic in the same degree. The fowl and pigeon 

 are plastic, while the goose, guinea-fowl, pheasant, 

 and peacock vary little or not at all. Nature may 

 have better things than the dog, but we cannot 

 guess her secrets, and to find them out by experi- 

 ment would take a very long time. A bird in the 

 hand, any bird, even a cock-sparrow, is better than 

 all the birds of paradise that are in the bush. The 

 other animals will serve us for sport while they last; 

 and when they are gone we of this age shall be 

 gone too, and deaf to whatever unkind things our 

 posterity may say of us. The dog is with us, 

 esteemed above all brutes, our favourite, and we 

 shall give him no cause for jealousy. 



If we had him not, if we had never had him or 

 had forgotten his memory, and were to go out 

 again to select a friend and companion from the 

 beasts of the field, the wild dog would be passed 



