328 CHANGES OF HABIT OR INSTINCT [Chap. YIH. 



to point was once displayed, methodical selection and 

 the inherited effects of compulsory training in each suc- 

 cessive generation would soon complete the work ; and 

 unconscious selection is still in progress, as each man 

 tries to procure, without intending to improve the breed, 

 dogs which stand and hunt best. On the other hand, 

 habit alone in some cases has sufficed ; hardly any 

 animal is more difficult to tame than the young of the 

 wild rabbit; scarcely any animal is tamer than the 

 young of the tame rabbit ; but I can hardly suppose 

 that domestic rabbits have often been selected for tanie- 

 ness alone ; so that we must attribute at least the greater 

 part of the inherited change from extreme wildness to 

 extreme tameness, to habit and long-continued close 

 confinement. 



Natural instincts are lost under domestication : a 

 remarkable instance of this is seen in those breeds of 

 fowls which very rarely or never become " broody," that 

 is, never wish to sit on their eggs. Familiarity alone 

 prevents oar seeing how largely and how permanently 

 the minds of our domestic animals have been modified. 

 It is scarcely possible to doubt that the love of man 

 has become instinctive in the dog. All wolves, foxes, 

 jackals, and species of the cat genus, when kept tame, 

 are most eager to attack poultry, sheep, and pigs ; and 

 this tendency has been found incurable in do^s which 

 have been brought home as puppies from countries such 

 as Tierra del Fuego and Australia, where the savages do 

 not keep these domestic animals. How rarely, on the 

 other hand, do our civilised dogs, even when quite young, 

 require to be taught not to attack poultry, sheep, and 

 pigs ! No doubt they occasionally do make an attack, 

 and are then beaten; and if not cured, they are de- 



