ANIMAL NOTABLES 187 



feather is but a transfigured reptilian scale, a flower a 

 sublimated leaf, but a bird is a very different thing from 

 a reptile. Ben 1 ec ting from these living fossil habits and 

 structures to the astounding Swapls of living creatures to 

 change into something new, something nobler, more com- 

 plex, more beautiful, more individual, one feels inclined 

 to strike out the Darwinian word " variation " and sub- 

 stitute for it reincarnation. If the change sometimes be 

 to a worse rather than a better state, it is still re- 

 incarnation. How different are the sedentary from the 

 free- winged forms of some parasites. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CATTLE 



Colonel Cadell's letter (Spectator, September 21) is very 

 interesting, and recalls a similar incident related by 

 Colonel Pollock, though, in the latter case, the Colonel, 

 tripping over a wild vine, lost his shot, and the buffaloes, 

 hunting like so many hounds, finished the job " on their 

 own." Mowgli knew his business when he sent the cows 

 and calves round to one end of the wall-sided pass where 

 Shere Khan was lying, and, himself riding the big bull 

 Rama, brought the bulls in at the other end. " Before 

 they were fairly in the bed of the ravine Eama winded 

 Shere Khan and bellowed. "Ha! ha!" said Mowgli, 

 on his back, ' how thou knowest !' ' Ordinary domestic 

 cattle would be useless in a strait unless under the in- 

 fluence of the Storgd, but then all initiative has been 

 carefully bred out of them. A cow with an originality 

 would not suit the farmer. " A vicious cow won't fat," 

 as we say in Dorset. And the little Forest cattle, who 

 can fend for themselves, are not favourites in the enclosed 

 country. " They jumpin' heifers," as a friend of mine 

 phrased it, are apt to lead the solid herd astray. But 

 the half-wild West Highlanders form line of battle in 

 the orthodox fashion, bulls in front, on the approach of 

 strangers, and so do the wild white cattle at Chillingham. 



