1846.] Darwin's Voyage of a Jfaiuralist. 269 



The shepherd-dog comes to the house every day for some meat, 

 and as soon as it is given him he skulks away as if ashamed of 

 himself On these occasions the house-dogs are very tyrannical, 

 and the least of them will attack and pursue the stranger. The 

 minute, however, the latter has reached the flock, he turns round 

 and begins to bark, and then all the house-dogs take very quickly 

 to their heels. In a similar manner, a whole pack of the hungry 

 wild dogs will scarcely ever (and I was told by some never) ven- 

 ture to attack a flock guarded by even one of these faithful shep- 

 herds. The whole account appears to me a curious instance of 

 the pliability of the affections in the dog; and yet, whether wild 

 or however educated, he has a feeling of respect or fear for those 

 who are fulfilling their instinct of association; for we can under- 

 stand on no principle the wild dogs being driven away by the 

 single one with its flock, except that they consider, from some 

 confused notion, that the one thus associated gains power, as if in 

 company with its own kind. F. Cuvier has observed, that all 

 animals that readily enter into domestication, consider man as a 

 member of their own societ}', and thus fulfil their instinct of asso- 

 ciation. In the above case the shepherd-dog ranks the sheep as 

 its fellow-brethren, and thus gains confidence; and the wild dogs, 

 though knowing that the individual sheep are not dogs, but are 

 good to eat, yet partly consent to this view when seeing them in 

 a flock with a shepherd-dog at their head. 



To us no subject of enquiry has been so interesting as the pro- 

 ems by which our domestic animals have been subdued and 

 domesticated; and hence every fact w^hich bears upon this sub- 

 ject, directly or indirectly, we esteem of great importance. It is 

 a broad field of inquiry, and we have no time now to enter upon 

 a consideration of the facts even in a general manner; we, how- 

 ever, take the opportunity' to extract one more interesting passage 

 from Mr. D.'s book, which bears upon this subject, and which 

 contains, aside from its bearing, curious matter of fact for the 

 consideration of naturalists, in regard to the changes which spe- 

 cies undergo under the special influence of local circmnstances. 

 The observations are upon the cattle which have become wild in 

 the Falkland Islands. They were introduced here by the French 

 in 1764, since which time they have greatly increased. Mr. D. 

 remarks: — 



It is a curious fact that the horses have never lefl the eastern 

 end of the island, although there is no natural boundary to pre- 



