48 
NATURAL SELECTION 
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inherent tendency to avoid white, for directly they are 
domesticated white varieties arise, and appear to thrive as 
well as others. We have white mice and rats, white cats, 
horses, dogs and cattle, white poultry, pigeons, turkeys and 
ducks, and white rabbits. Some of these animals have been 
domesticated for a long period, others only for a few centuries; 
but in almost every case in which an animal has been 
thoroughly domesticated, parti-coloured and white varieties 
are produced and become permanent. 
It is also well known that animals in a state of nature 
produce white varieties occasionally. Blackbirds, starlings, 
and crows are occasionally seen white, as well as elephants, 
deer, tigers, hares, moles, and many other animals; but in 
no case is a permanent white race produced. Now there are 
no statistics to show that the normal-coloured parents produce 
white offspring oftener under domestication than in a state of 
nature, and we have no right to make such an assumption if 
the facts can be accounted for without it. But if the colours 
of animals do really, in the various instances already adduced, 
serve for their concealment and preservation, then white or 
any other conspicuous colour must be hurtful, and must in 
most cases shorten an animal’s life. A white rabbit would 
be more surely the prey of hawk or buzzard, and the white 
mole, or field mouse, could not long escape from the vigilant 
owl. So, also, any deviation from those tints best adapted 
to conceal a carnivorous animal would render the pursuit of 
its prey much more difficult, would place it at a disadvantage 
among its fellows, and in a time of scarcity would probably 
cause it to starve to death. On the other hand, if an animal 
spreads from a temperate into an arctic district, the conditions 
are changed. During a large portion of the year, and just 
when the struggle for existence is most severe, white is the 
prevailing tint of nature, and dark colours will be the most 
conspicuous. The white varieties will now have an advan- 
tage ; they will escape from their enemies or will secure food, 
while their brown companions will be devoured or will starve; 
and as “like produces like” is the established rule in nature, 
the white race will become permanently established, and dark 
varieties, when they occasionally appear, will soon die out 
from their want of adaptation to their environment. In each 
