INSTINCT 353 



in their mental qualities. With cats, for instance, one 

 naturally takes to catching rats, and another mice, and 

 these tendencies are known to be inherited. One cat, 

 according to Mr. St. John, always brought home game- 

 birds, another hares or rabbits, and another hunted on 

 marshy ground and almost nightly caught woodcocks or 

 snipes. A number of curious and authentic instances 

 could be given of various shades of disposition and of 

 taste, and likewise of the oddest tricks, associated with 

 certain frames of mind or periods of time, being in- 

 herited. But let us look to the familiar case of the 

 breeds of the dogs: it cannot be doubted that young 

 pointers (I have myself seen a striking instance) will 

 sometimes point and even back other dogs the very first 

 time that they are taken out; retrieving is certainly ia 

 some degree inherited by retrievers; and a tendency to 

 run round, instead of at, a flock of sheep, by shepherd 

 dogs. I cannot see that these actions, performed without 

 experience by the young, and in nearly the same manner 

 by each individual, performed with eager delight by each 

 breed, and without the end being known — for the young 

 pointer can no more know that he points to aid his mas- 

 ter than the white butterfly knows why she lays her 

 eggs on the leaf of the cabbage — I cannot see that these 

 actions differ essentially from true instincts. If we were 

 to behold one kind of wolf, when young and without 

 any training, as soon as it scented its prey, stand mo- 

 tionless like a statue, and then slowly crawl forward 

 with a peculiar gait; and another kind of wolf rushing 

 round, instead of at, a herd of deer, and driving them 

 to a distant point, we should assuredly call these actions 

 instinctive. Domestic instincts, as they may be called, 



