98 DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



collie, a greyhound, a pariah all recognise each other 

 and observe the same rules of etiquette when they 

 meet. 



We must admit, however, that, whatever pliability 

 of disposition, or other inherent suitability, led to 

 the first domestication of certain species of animals, 

 the changes induced in their natures by many genera- 

 tions of domesticity have made them amenable to 

 man's control to a degree which puts a wide differ- 

 ence between them and their wild relations. A 

 wild ass, though brought up from its birth in a 

 stable, would make a very intractable costermonger's 

 moke. We may infer from this that the first 

 subjugation of each of our common domestic animals 

 was the achievement of some genius, or of some 

 tribe favourably situated, and that they spread 

 from that centre by sale or barter, rather than that 

 they were separately domesticated in many places. 

 This would partly explain why a few species of 

 widely different families are so universally kept in 

 all countries to the exclusion of hundreds of species 

 nearly allied and apparently as suitable. When a 

 want could be supplied by obtaining from another 

 country an animal bred to live with man and serve 

 him, the long and difficult task of softening down the 

 wild instincts of a beast taken from the forests or the 

 hills and acclimatising its constitution to a domestic 

 life was not likely to be attempted. 



But there have been a few recent additions to 

 our list of domestic animals. The turkey and the 



