IGNORANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY 



be construed into domestication, otherwise a tame lion or 

 tiger must be considered a domestic animal. 



It may be as well, for general information, to endeavour 

 to explain the meaning of the term domestic or domestic- 

 ated. Domestic animals are those that have become 

 subject to man, and are bred and reared for the purposes 

 of food, for their usefulness, or as pets. There are some 

 few animals that may be considered semi-domesticated, 

 that is, half reclaimed from the wild state. The following 

 list will probably include nearly the whole of the animals 

 that can fairly be considered as domesticated, viz. : — Horse, 

 ass, mule, dog, cat, pig, camel, llama, alpaca, ox, rabbit, 

 sheep, goat, gainea-pig, com mon goose and Chinese goose, 

 common duck and Muscovy duck, fowl, turkey, pigeon, 

 canary. Semi or half-domesticated: — Red deer, fallow 

 deer, pea-fowl, Guinea-fowl, pheasant, swan. 



All the species that are quite domesticated exhibit very 

 great difference among them ; in fact, the variation in 

 most of them would cause, and has caused, many persons 

 to think and regard them as distinct species, instead of 

 varieties of the same species. Take, for instance, the dog. 

 The little pug or King Charles spaniel could hardly be 

 expected to be the same species as a large greyhound or 

 mastiff, yet such is undoubtedly the case. 



Had the names of the animals that the Act of Parlia- 

 ment was intended to protect been inserted in the Act 

 it would have saved a considerable amount of misunder- 

 standing. If, in consequence of a few blundering mis- 

 takes and convictions, the law is made to apply to wild 

 animals, no sportsman, whether he be a fisherman, hunts- 

 man, or gunner, will be free to pursue game, for to wound 

 fish, flesh, or fowl is cruel, and sporting of all kinds must 

 consequently be put down. 



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