386 ORGANISATIONS. 



precedence .... always went ahead of the herd. The best 

 bit of pasture was her exclusive domain, on which no other 

 durst intrude. ... So far did she carry her pretensions 

 that, if any other of the cows entered the byre before her, 

 she would refuse to enter. . . . She would draw herself up 

 and refuse to advance in spite of all encouraging words,' 

 while ' her whole frame swelled with anger and offended 

 dignity. ... At last the cows within [the byre], as though 

 conscious that they had forgotten their place, began to come 

 out/ and then she, ' with an evident air of gratified pride, 

 strode in in state.' l 



The necessity that exists among many social animals for 

 government by a leader is rendered obvious by the effects 

 of the loss of a chief. What these results are in the 

 case of the queen bee has already been pointed out. But 

 similar results follow the absence, capture, or death of a 

 leader among animals much higher in the zoological scale. 

 Thus, in Eastern caravans, in the absence of the horse- 

 leader, the camels, asses, mules, or other animals, become 

 restless and uneasy ; they stray from the path, and disorder 

 reigns (Macgregor). 



In every herd of camels there is a master bull, who, by 

 his strength, ' keeps his younger brethren in subjection.' 

 Colonel Warburton, in his celebrated ' Journey Across the 

 Western Interior of Australia,' 2 describes how he suffered 

 from the illness of one of these master bulls. Insubordina- 

 tion on the part of its juniors (camels) was the immediate 

 result, each 'seeking an opportunity of asserting his own 

 supremacy.' 



The usual function of animal leaders seems to be that of 

 a protector to direct measures of defence in assault, of extri- 

 cation or escape in danger. But there are other cases in 

 which their duties are rather those of regulators of the civil, 

 social, or domestic economy of the communities over which 

 they preside. Thus Houzeau describes mayors of towns or 

 villages among prairie dogs mayors who grant audiences, 

 receive visits as to administrative affairs in short, discharge 



* North British Daily Mail,' December 27, 1876. 

 * 1875, p. 213. 



