3 22 
THE TEMPER OF ANIMALS 
blows on the door, and was so intent on its occupation 
as to disregard the call of its keeper. The keeper 
quietly attracted its attention by pulling its tail ! — and 
the lion at once desisted, rubbed its face against the 
keeper’s hand, and lay down to be stroked, patted, 
and have its mane caressed. 
That good-tempered races contain very ill-natured 
individuals, raises the difficult question of tempera- 
ment. A good authority on horses, Mr. Mayhew, 
endeavours to show that ill-temper among them is 
accidental, not innate. In his work, “jibbing” is 
shown to be due to brain-disease, shying to defective 
vision, and temper to the mismanagement of man. 
There is much truth,, but also much error here. 
Those best acquainted with the nature of domesti- 
cated animals know how greatly the temperaments of 
individuals differ. Take, for instance, the case of 
three highly-bred young Jersey heifers, of which the 
writer has watched the up-bringing from their earliest 
days. They have never been frightened or struck ; 
they have not even heard a rough word from their 
earliest days, even when they jumped the garden-fence 
and browsed on an apricot-tree. One is as gentle and 
domesticated as a well-bred cow can be, the others 
are ready with their horns at any or no provocation. 
The same is true of horses : some are so ill-tempered 
that they will kick or bite at any living thing that 
comes near them. It is as impossible to trace these 
dislikes to any known cause as it is to find a reason 
for the antipathy which cows have for hares. How- 
ever great our liking for horses, we cannot deny that 
