INSTINCT AND HABIT. 



145 



Again (p. 211) : " Hence we may conclude 

 that under domestication instincts have been 

 acquired and natural instincts have been lost, 

 partly by habit and partly by man selecting 

 and accumulating during successive genera- 

 tions peculiar mental habits and actions, 

 which at first appeared from what we must, 

 in our ignorance, call an accident." 



Let us examine in detail the scenting 

 faculty of sporting and other dogs, and con- 

 sider whether they are explicable on Darwin's 

 hypothesis, which, it may be observed, as- | 

 sumes a tendency to point at game, or the 

 appearance by " accident " of some peculiar 

 habit. 



The Pointer and the Setter differ from 

 each other in physique, but both seek for, 

 and when they come within a short distance 

 point the muzzle in the direction of, game. 

 The body suddenly becomes rigid semi- 

 cataleptic and remains so until the game 

 is flushed or found absent recently flown. 

 Neither gives tongue on approaching game ; 

 but when game is scented, the tail begins to 

 wag vigorously, and, when within pointing 

 distance, it and the rest of the body become 

 suddenly rigid the neck possibly in a rigid 

 curve if the bird has suddenly moved to one 

 side. 



