33 THE COW 



vigor or perhaps because of color markings that he 

 fancied, and he reasoned, "May I not kill the calves 

 of the cows that please me least and preserve the 

 calves of those that I like best and thus improve 

 them all?" and that day the first Breeder stood 

 forth and systematic improvement was begun. 

 And then again, when the mother of a tiny human 

 babe had died — killed perhaps in a savage foray 

 by a neighboring clan— the bereaved father in his 

 helplessness and tenderness bethought himself of 

 drawing milk from a female of his herd and thus 

 preserving the life of his child, and that resource- 

 ful father became the first Dairyman. Advances of 

 this kind once made were never lost. 



There is every reason to think that the genus 

 Bos readily yields itself to domestication. We 

 must remember that domestication means far more 

 than mere training. The animals of a menagerie 

 may be tamed and look to man for food and may 

 be taught certain habits and tricks, but they can 

 hardly be called domesticated. The real test of 

 domestication is the free reproduction of young 

 under the changed conditions, and few animals 

 when kept under artificial confinement will meet 

 this test. Not only this, but the way in which 

 oxen are readily broken as beasts of burden show 

 how completely their impulses have become sub- 

 servient to the will of man. 



In any case, the written history of the cow is 

 very short as compared with her unknown past. 



