The Strange Instincts of Cattle. 347 



safety, moves our hearts by its close resemblance to 

 one of the most highly-prized human virtues ; just 

 as we are moved to intellectual admiration by the 

 wonderful migratory instinct in birds that simulates 

 some of the highest achievements of the mind of 

 man. And we know that this beautiful instinct is 

 also liable to mistakes — that many travellers leave 

 us annually never to return. Such a mistake was 

 undoubtedly the cause of the late visitation of 

 Pallas' sand-grouse : owing perhaps to some un- 

 usual atmospheric or dynamic condition, or to 

 some change in the nervous system of the birds, 

 they deviated widely from their usual route, to 

 scatter in countless thousands over the whole of 

 Europe and perish slowly in climates not suited to 

 them ; while others, overpassing the cold strange 

 continent, sped on over colder, stranger seas, to 

 drop at last like aerolites, quenching their lives in 

 the waves. 



Whether because it is true, as Professor Freeman 

 and some others will, have it, that humanity is a 

 purely modern virtue ; or because the doctrine of 

 Darwin, by showing that we are related to other 

 forms of life, that our best feelings have their roots 

 low down in the temper and instincts of the social 

 species, has brought us nearer in spirit to the 

 inferior animals, it is certain that our regard for 

 them has grown, and is growing, and that new facts 

 and fresh inferences that make us think more highly 

 of them are increasingly welcome. 



2 A 



