The Making of Species 
Few animals possess all these characteristics 
in a pre-eminent degree, for, to use the words of 
Mr Thompson Seton, “Every animal has some 
strong point or it could not live, and some weak 
point or the other animals could not live.” 
Courage may be of two kinds—active courage, 
like that of the Englishman, or passive courage, 
like that of the Jew. 
As D. Dewar has said: In the struggle for 
existence, ‘‘An ounce of good solid pug- 
nacity is worth many pounds of protective 
colouration.” 
It is of course possible for an animal to possess 
too much courage. An excessive amount of 
courage will often cause a creature to fight 
unnecessary battles, which may lead to its pre- 
mature death. This is perhaps the reason why 
the pugnacious black form of the leopard is not 
more numerous. 
Under a good constitution we must include 
the power of resisting the rigours of climate, 
more especially damp, the ability to resist 
disease, and the enjoyment of a good digestion. 
When from any cause the normal food of a 
species becomes scarce, the members of that 
species will have to starve or supplement the 
normal diet with food of an unusual nature; and 
those that are endowed with a good digestion 
will be able to digest the new food and thus 
survive, while those which cannot assimilate food 
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