CRIME AND CRIMINALITY. 157 



or motive is intelligible ; the cause may be regarded as 

 physiological or pathological ; the result beneficent ; but the 

 action is nevertheless a theft. The cat and the fox have 

 done the same with dog-pups (Jesse), and many other in- 

 stances are given in the chapter on fc Foster-parentage.' 



Many animals, like many men, take a mean and dishonest 

 advantage of the labours of others. Some, indeed, virtually 

 live by robbery or piracy. Thus gulls derive their family 

 name Laridce from their living by habitual theft (Baird), by 

 making other sea-birds disgorge the fish they have had the 

 trouble of catching. The eagle with the osprey, the sparrow 

 with smaller or weaker birds, act on the same principle as 

 the robber skua (gull) that is, they allow other birds to take 

 all the trouble of capturing prey, and then abstract it by 

 violence from the direct or original captors (Wood). 



An equally familiar form of taking a selfish advantage of 

 the labours of others is the usurpation by the cuckoo of the 

 nests of other birds, a usurpation attended usually with 

 forcible ejection virtual murder of the builders^ and con- 

 sequently legitimate occupants, of the said nests. The 

 sparrow is prone to usurpation of the same kind, as well as 

 to other forms of theft (Wood). 



A species of ant (Pheidole) receives its specific name 

 plagiaria from its habit of plundering the nests of other 

 families, genera, or species (Darwin) : and various other ants 

 rob the ant-hills of other species or genera of their larvso or 

 nymphs (Figuier). 



Among dogs, as among men, there are lazy, mean indi- 

 viduals who attempt to domicile themselves on the industrious 

 or well-behaved (Cobbe). 



The capture and use of slaves has, as in the abduction of 

 young, an intelligible motive, while the result is, usually at 

 least, beneficent to the captured animals themselves. In 

 various ways they are made useful to their masters or cap- 

 tors. But this usefulness is not only compatible with kindly 

 usage, but it is in fact brought about by such treatment. 

 Even for their own selfish ends, for the sake of the labour, 

 the attentions, or the produce of the captives, the captors 

 find that kindness is their best policy, as it is man's towards 



