ANIMAL TRADITION 221 
rapid” progress when he was introduced to the society of 
other dogs, and was thus subjected to the influence of canine 
tradition. 
How far this influence extends in animal communities— 
how far it is either a necessary or even an important con- 
tributory factor in the development of certain modes of 
behaviour—is at present in large degree a matter of specula- 
tion. And the only justification for speculation in science is 
that it may open our eyes to modes of influence the range and 
limits of whose effects may be submitted to the touchstone of 
careful observation, and, if possible, experiment. In this 
instance it is rather the indefiniteness of the evidence before 
us than its absence that stands in the way of any profitable 
discussion of the problem from the evidential point of view. 
And this indefiniteness is partly due to the fact that the need 
of observation is not realized, because this factor in animal 
behaviour has not been distinguished with sufficient clearness. 
It is worth while, therefore, to devote a short space to a con- 
sideration of the relation of this tradition to instinct and 
intelligence with a view to the focussing of observation on the 
facts by which it may be further elucidated. 
In the first place, it is probable that, as in other modes of 
animal behaviour, traditional procedure is founded on an 
instinctive basis. This must be an imitative tendency of the 
broad follow-my-leader type indicated in the first section of 
this chapter. And this would afford wide instinctive founda- 
tions, which would owe their hereditary character to the fact 
that, under natural selection, those individuals in the com- 
munity would survive which fell into line with the adaptive 
behaviour of their companions, while those which failed in 
this respect would be eliminated as more or less isolated out- 
siders, standing apart from the social life. In illustration we 
may take a hypothetical case, founded, however, upon observa- 
tion. The Rev. 8. J. Whitmee, a missionary in Samoa, believes 
that the tooth-billed pigeon of these islands (Didunculus 
strigirostris) ** has probably been frightened when roosting, or 
during incubation, by attacks of cats, and has sought safety 
