INDIVIDUALITY. 281 



immediate disapprobation of the dog,' 1 as signified by a 

 growl. Again, a tame rook was very fond of two dogs, one 

 a bulldog, ' being specially given to riding on their backs ' 

 ('Animal World'). Military and other horses show as 

 special likings as dislikes for instance, to particular men. 

 They have their favourite masters or grooms, by whom alone 

 they are manageable, refusing to permit any other persons to 

 mount or approach them (Nichols, Youatt, Houzeau). Unac- 

 countable friendships occur even among geese (Lloyd) ; and 

 instances of causeless attachments, as of antipathies, of 

 other birds to man are not uncommon (Darwin). 



Among the commonest illustrations of the likings and dis- 

 likes of the lower animals are those connected with their taste 

 or appetite for food and drink and especially for the foods 

 and beverages of man. One of the most frequently exhibited 

 tastes for special articles of food is that for saccharine solids 

 or fluids not necessarily or only sugar or similar sweet sub- 

 stances prepared by man. Ants, for instance, show a strong 

 liking for honeydew, as secreted and excreted by aphides. 

 For sugar, however, as prepared by man, fondness amounts 

 sometimes even to a passion in the dog (Cobbe), and may, 

 if un gratified, beget fury in the horse. In such cases, as in 

 the more common and more harmful partiality for the alco- 

 holic beverages of man, taste or appetite may be described 

 as not only acquired and artificial, but as morbid. Thus it 

 must surely be a morbid appetite that leads the siamang to 

 drink ink (Cassell). 



And this morbid appetite in the lower animals is a subject 

 of such extent and importance that it would require at least 

 one chapter to itself to do it anything like justice. Here we 

 can but refer to it en passant. One of its most serious forms 

 in connection with the development of morbid antipathies 

 that lead, again, to other kinds of cruelty to their young is 

 cannibalism of offspring, devouring their own fledgelings or 

 offspring, by ravens, and many other birds and other ani- 

 mals. 



' If a parrot be presented with a piece of bread and jam, 

 he will eat the jam and drop the bread,' just in fact as so 



1 < Dundee Advertiser,' May 28, 1875. 



