52 OBSERVATIONS IN 



them all stay there but one day ; and then bring them home, and they 

 will all seem as well acquainted as if they had been brought up to- 

 gether. 



A gentleman gave me a lamb with three legs, which my other sheep 

 had nearly killed ; and, after repeated trials, the farmer put it into a 

 house. I ordered the whole flock to be driven to a strange field which 

 they had never been in before ; and, the moment they were out of their 

 own territories, they allowed the lamb to herd with them ; and, when 

 brought home in the evening to the old field, they took no more notice 

 of it, at least by way of hostility. 



I may be allowed to observe that these properties are not in a 

 regular progression, as here set down, in every animal : some having 

 one or two of those principles much stronger than others, and the first 

 acquaintance, which is rather an acquired property and which is often 

 very strong, is the most uncertain ; some species acquiring it very 

 readily and strongly, which becomes the basis of domesticating animals ; 

 others having hardly any disposition of that kind, as e.g. the fox. 

 Probably all those animals which live entirely upon animal food have 

 the disposition of association least ; and this may be necessary in them, 

 as they may be said to be at war with every other animal, and even 

 shy of their own species through selfishness. 



Animals have a degree of sociability in them. They generally choose 

 to reside in one place and herd together if allowed. Thus magpies will 

 always stay about one place and build their nest in the same tree every 

 year, even if they should be disturbed. It is very likely that this last 

 is the case with birds of passage. Dogs go together, &c. ; but they 

 differ in degrees of sociability, some kinds having it more than others. 

 The more they are so, the more sensible they are, or capable of being 

 taught : they are more capable of associating their ideas than the others 

 are. Hawks and cats have least of this desire of a social life, and are 

 the most stubborn creatures to be taught any art. Men, monkeys, 

 parrots, crows, jackdaws, starlings, &c, always herd together, and are 

 the most sociable animals we know of: they have all more or less 

 memoiy, [association of] ideas, and reflection. 



This property of sociability in animals has its gradations. The 

 strongest is a species to itself, i. e. of any one of a species to another of 

 the same species. Where the second is I do not well know ; I should 

 suppose, with some other species that has the nearest relation to it, as 

 a crow with a jackdaw. But a horse seems to have little sociability 

 with an ass. 



If animals in a state of nature herd together, they may, I imagine, 

 be domesticated, and vice versa. Thus wolves, or the natural dog, go 



