ACQUIRED AND ABNORMAL CHARACTERS. 41 



have been developed by a long course of training, 

 which are transmitted with a uniformity that is sur- 

 prising. Young setters, pointers, and retrievers, that 

 have never been in the field, will often " work " with 

 as much steadiness and ability as those that have had 

 a long experience in sporting. 



In such cases, however, it will be found that the 

 ancestors, immediate or remote, have been well trained 

 in their special methods of hunting. 



The shepherd-dog is remarkable for its sagacity 

 and the persistence with which it carries out the 

 wishes of its master ; and it would be difficult, if not 

 impossible, to train dogs of any other breeds to equal 

 them in their special duties. The greyhound runs by 

 sight, and the blood-hound by scent, and their offspring 

 all inherit the same peculiarities. 



" The curious fact was observed by Mr. Knight, 

 that the young of a breed of springing spaniels which 

 had been trained for several successive generations to 

 find woodcocks seemed to know as well as the old 

 dogs what degree of frost would drive the birds to 

 seek their food in unfrozen springs and rills." * . 



" A new instinct has also become hereditary in a 

 mongrel race of dogs employed by the inhabitants of 

 the banks of the Magdalena almost exclusively in 

 hunting the white-lipped peccary. The address of 

 these dogs consists in restraining their ardor and at- 

 taching themselves to no individual in particular, but 

 keeping the whole in check. JSTow, among these dogs 

 some are found which, the very first time they are 

 taken to the woods, are acquainted with this mode of 



1 Carpenter's " Mental Physiology," p. 104. 

 3 



