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SEXUAL selection: mammals. 
Part II.. 
a great breeder of dogs, informs me that he has known 
some instances; he cites the case of one of his own 
deer-hounds, who would not take any notice of a par- 
ticular female mastiff, so that another deer-hound had 
to be employed. It would be superfluous to give other 
cases, and I will only add that Mr. Barr, who has care- 
fully bred many blood-hounds, states that in almost 
every instance particular individuals of the opposite 
sex shew a decided preference for each other. Finally 
Mr. Guppies, after attending to this subject for another 
year, has recently written to me, have had full con- 
firmation of my former statement, that dogs in breed- 
ing form decided preferences for each other, being^ 
often influenced by size, bright colour, and individual 
character, as well as by the degree of their previous 
familiarity.” 
In regard to horses, Mr. Blenkiron, the greatest 
breeder of race-horses in the world, informs me that 
stallions are so frequently capricious in their choice, 
rejecting one mare and without any apparent cause 
taking to another, that various artifices have to be 
habitually used. The famous Monarque, for instance, 
would never consciously look at the dam of Gladiateur, 
and a trick had to be practised. We can partly see the 
reason why valuable race-horse stallions, which are in 
such demand, should be so particular in their choice. 
Mr. Blenkiron has never known a mare to reject a 
horse; but this has occurred in Mr. Wright’s stable, 
so that the mare had to be cheated. Prosper Lucas 
quotes various statements from French authorities, and 
remarks, “ On voit des etalons qui s’eprennent d’une 
jument, et n%ligent toutes les autres.” He gives, on 
the authority of Baelen, similar facts in regard to bulls. 
‘ Traite de I’Hered. Nat.’ tom. ii. 1850, p. ^ '■'S. 
