NEW VARIETIES. 231 



who was himself a very good judge of an animal, speaks of 

 the principle of selection as 'that which enables the agricul- 

 turist not only to modify the character of his flock, but to 

 change it altogether. It is the magician's wand by means of 

 which he may summon into life whatever form and mould 

 he will.' " Lord Summerville's remark about the sheep breed- 

 ers of his time was this : "It would seem as if they had chalked 

 out upon a wall a form perfect in itself, and then had given 

 it existence." And the pigeon fancier, Sir John Sebright, 

 once declared that he would produce any given feather in 

 three years, but that it would take him six years to obtain 

 head and beak. 



Consider what this principle of selection which Nature has 

 employed for ages has, when utilized by human intellect, done 

 for the horse within very recent years : the Percheron, pon- 

 derous and powerful; the trotter, with his slender limbs, his 

 fine lines, his graceful movements and his wonderful speed ; 

 the hackney and general purpose horse, with his suitable char- 

 acteristics these are pertinent illustrations. Or among chick- 

 ens, what extremes are now to be seen in spurs and sickles, 

 in hocks and hackles, in comb, wattles and wings. Or among 

 dogs, what striking differences between the bulldog, the bea- 

 gle, the pug, the poodle, the pointer. The instinct of the 

 pointer is a study and a delight which no one may appreciate 

 who has never had one of these intelligent and faithful ani- 

 mals locate for him a bird or a squirrel, approaching it as 

 near as might be without exciting its alarm, and then, stand- 

 ing with rigid body, tail extended and right foot gracefully 

 lifted, staring like a statue in the direction of the game, "point- 

 ing" it with his eager muzzle. And yet every one of these 

 strikingly different characteristics, the instincts even, have 



