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" Hereditary Tricksy 



son, in the most unaccountable manner ; and I repeat that amongst 

 the many remarkable traits of instinct and natural peculiarity which 

 the diligent observer of the various tribes of animals meets with at 

 every point, there are perhaps none which are so difficult to explain 

 as these tricks, not peculiar to the whole class or species, but only to 

 individuals, and which in many instances seem to descend as heir- 

 looms from generation to generation. Any one who has at all studied 

 the Natural History of animals will have observed in many cases such 

 " hereditary tricks" as I have mentioned ; but to take an instance or 

 two selected from those animals which daily come under the notice 

 of most of us, and which we have already taken as examples of the 

 transmission of bodily peculiarities, let us examine the point in regard 

 to dogs and horses. Every one at all versed in the mysteries of the 

 kennel knows that hounds frequently inherit from their father or 

 mother certain tricks ; thus one hound has a peculiar manner of 

 coming up to be fed, another walks across the kennel with an unusual 

 gait, while a third has a method peculiar to himself of running up to 

 his keeper; and all these tricks are precisely such as the fathers or 

 mothers of these hounds had before them : so that the huntsman will 

 often pick out such and such a puppy, and confidently predict him to 

 be a good one, because his father was before him, and he has inhe- 

 rited his tricks ; from whence he infers, and generally rightly, that 

 with his peculiarities he has inherited the good qualities of his sire 

 too. Again, I need only mention the well-known fact that the 

 pointer's puppy, when but a few weeks' old, will begin to point of its 

 own accord. And so with regard to horses, how often are we sur- 

 prised to find that the colt will inherit the peculiarities of his mother : 

 either he jerks his head in some strange fashion, or he stands in the 

 stable in some quaint manner, or he has some unaccountable trick, just 

 as one of his parents had before him : and Dr. Prichard has stated 

 that young horses will frequently adopt the artificial paces which 

 have been taught to their sires (see Zool. 1100). But to come down 

 from generalities to a particular example : a curious instance of here- 

 ditary trick once came under my notice in a mare that was driven in 

 harness : she had a strange habit of constantly licking the bit ; she 

 was very high-couraged, and this was her way of showing her im- 

 patience : at length her work was over, and she became a brood 

 mare : in course of time her colt was broken into harness, and lo ! he 

 had the very same trick, and licked his bit too, and in precisely the 

 same manner, rolling his tongue round the lower bar, as his mother 

 did before him. Now, one would be naturally disposed to refer the 



