158 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



wilderness. It would be as difficult to guess 

 how such an instinct first arose as it is to 

 guess the origin of life upon the earth. The 

 only certainty about the matter is, that the in- 

 telligence of the beasts themselves had little or 

 nothing to do with it. Plainly any herd which 

 adopted such a custom would be better off in 

 the lone-run than one which did not ; because 

 the beasts composing it would be less exposed 

 to dangerous diseases, and would also, probably, 

 be less harried by wolves and other enemies. 



It is proverbial that anything of a bright red 

 colour tends to excite the anger of a bull. This 

 seems to result from the instinctive aversion to 

 blood which is observable among all the cattle 

 tribe, since the smell of blood has very much the 

 same exciting effect. I think that we have here 

 nothing more than a variation of the protective 

 instinct which we have been discussing. A 

 wounded and bleeding animal is obviously a 

 source of weakness and danger to the wild herd, 

 for he would attract the Carnivora even more 

 than one which was sick. Probably, mixed up 

 with this instinct, is some muddle-headed notion 

 that an enemy has caused the How of blood 

 (or the appearance of it), and hence a more 



