UiiAp. XVII. 
PREFERENCES IN PAIRING. 
273 
in describing tbe domesticated reindeer of 
says, “Foemina majores et fortiores mares 
P r ® cmteris admittunt, ad eos confugiunt, a juniori- 
agitate, qui lios in fugam conjiciunt.” 44 A clergy- 
^Utn, who has bred many pigs, assures me that sows 
°ften reject one boar and immediately accept another. 
I 1 rom these facts there can be no doubt that with 
ril °st of our domesticated quadrupeds strong individual 
^tipathies and preferences arc frequently exhibited 
y iul much more commonly by the female than by the 
^ale. This being the case, it is improbable that the 
Elions of quadrupeds in a state of nature should be 
Jpt to mere chance. It is much more probable that 
4e females are allured or excited by particular males, 
' vl >o possess certain characters in a higher degree than 
°ther males ; but what these characters are, wo can 
Se Uom or never discover with certainty. 
14 ‘ Amoenitates Acad.’ vol. iv. 1788, p. 160. 
Hoffberg, 
upland. 
V °L. II. 
T 
