EON OF INDIA, 178

THE ENGLISH PHEASANT, 181

THE FALCONER'S FAVORITE--PEREGRINE FALCON, 184

THE BANDIT'S BROOD, 186

DOMESTICATED ANIMALS

INTRODUCTION

One of the effects of the modern advance in natural science has been
greatly to increase the attention which is devoted to the influences
that the conditions of diverse peoples have had upon their development.
Man is no longer looked upon, as he was of old, as a being which had
been imposed upon the earth in a sudden and arbitrary manner, set to
rule the world into which he had been sent as a master. We now see him
as one of the myriad species which has won its way by powers of mind out
of darkness and the great struggle to the place of command. The way in
which this creature, weak in body and exceedingly dependent on his
surroundings, has in the modern geologic epoch come forth from the mass
of the lower animals, is by far the most impressive and as yet the most
unexplained phenomenon which the geologist has to consider. It is not
likely that the marvellous advancement can be accounted for by any
single cause; it is probably due, as are most of the great evolutions,
to the concurrence of many influences; but among these which make for
advance, we clearly have to reckon the animals and plants which man has
learned to associate with his work of the household and the fields.

Although certain species of insects, particularly the ants, have the
well-developed habit of subjugating certain creatures of their own
family, man is the only vertebrate that has ever adopted the plan of
domesticating a variety of animals and plants. The beginnings of this
custom were made in a very remote time, and for long ages the profit
which was thereby gained appears to have been but slight. Gradually,
however, races, owing to their masterful quality and to the
opportunities which were offered by the wild life about their dwelling
places, obtained flocks and herds. In the group of continents commonly
termed the old world, where there were several ancient primitive peoples
of innate ability, and where there were many species of larger mammals
which were well fitted for domestication, the advance in social
development went on rapidly. In the new world, though the primitive
races contained tribes of much ability, there wa