16 BIRDS AND MAN 



comes before the mind's eye ; not of a particular 

 spade or apple, but of a tj^e representing the 

 object which exists in the mind ready for use on 

 all occasions. With the question of the origin of 

 this type, this spade or apple of the mind, we 

 need not concern ourselves here. If the object 

 thought or spoken of be an animal — a horse let 

 us say, the image seen in the mind will in most 

 cases be as in the foregoing case a type existing 

 in the mind and not of an individual. But if a 

 person is keenly interested in horses generaUy, 

 and is a rider and has owned and loved many 

 horses, the image of some particular one which 

 he has known or has looked at with appreciative 

 eyes will come to mind ; and he will also be able 

 to caU up the images of dozens or of scores of 

 horses he has known or seen in the same way. 

 If on the other hand we think of a rat, we see 

 not any individual but a type, because we have 

 no interest in or no special feeling with regard to 

 such a creature, and aU the successive images we 

 receive of it become merged in one — the type 

 which already existed in the mind and was 

 probably formed very early in life. With the 

 dog for subject the case is different: dogs are 



