ACCLIMATISATION 101 



in order to detect habits and instincts inherited from wild an- 

 cestors. To take but two out of a multitude of instances, tame 

 rabbits kept in hutches, shake their paws before licking them 

 preparatory to washing their faces. The interpretation of the 

 movements is that they are intended to get rid of any soil that 

 may be adhering to the animal's feet obviously a habit derived 

 from ancestors which burrowed in the earth. Horses are especially 

 liable to shy at the rustling of tree tops, fearing, no doubt, that 

 some carnivorous animal is about to spring upon them.^ 



It is not so much the province of this book to inform as to 

 suggest ways of study which may in time lead to lines of investiga- 

 tion which are likely to prove of value. The importance of 

 nature-study to those who have to deal with existing domestic 

 animals is obvious, and its economic side should include the con- 

 sideration of how additions to their number might possibly be made. 



ACCLIMATISATION. 



Doubtless the eccentricities of our climate have something to 

 do with the scant attention that owners of large estates in the 

 country have paid to the possibilities of acclimatisation. With 

 the example, however, set by the Duke of Bedford, the Hon. 

 Walter Kothschild, Sir Edmund Loder, and a few other landed 

 proprietors, it is to be hoped that much will be done in the near 

 future. There can be no doubt that a number of animals such as 

 the eland, koodoo, many antelopes and deer, the kangaroo and 

 wallaby and beaver can all be kept in a semi-wild state in this 

 country. Whether any of them can ultimately be added to the 

 list of our food-supplying or draught animals is still uncertain. 



* Other instances which may be taken as guides will be found in " Wild Traits of 

 Tame Animals," by Dr Louis Robinson. William Blackwood. Price 10s. 6d. 



