44 
THE DESCENT OF MAN. 
Part I. 
The principle of Imitation is strong in man, and 
especially in man in a barbarous state. Desor 10 has 
remarked that no animal voluntarily imitates an action 
performed by man, until in the ascending scale we 
come to monkeys, which are well-known to be ridiculous 
mockers. Animals, however, sometimes imitate each 
others’ actions : thus two species of wolves, which had 
been reared by dogs, learned to bark, as does some- 
times the jackal , 11 but whether this can be called volun- 
tary imitation is another question. From one account 
which I have read, there is reason to believe that puppies 
nursed by cats sometimes learn to lick their feet and 
thus to clean their faces : it is at least certain, as I hear 
from a perfectly trustworthy friend, that some dogs 
hehave in this manner. Birds imitate the songs of their 
parents, and sometimes those of other birds ; and par- 
rots are notorious imitators of any sound which they 
often hear. 
Hardly any faculty is more important for the intel- 
lectual progress of man than the power of Attention. 
Animals clearly manifest this power, as when a cat 
watches by a hole and prepares to spring on its prey. 
Wild animals sometimes become so absorbed when thus 
engaged, that they may be easily approached. Mr. 
Bartlett has given me a curious proof how variable this 
faculty is in monkeys. A man who trains monkeys to 
act used to purchase common kinds from the Zoological 
Society at the price of five pounds for each ; but he 
offered to give double the price, if he might keep three 
or four of them for a few days, in order to select one. 
When asked how he could possibly so soon learn whether 
10 Quoted by Vogt, 4 Memoire sur les Microcephales/ 1867, p. 16S. 
11 4 The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication/ vol. 
i. p. 27. 
