heasant, which has brought to the high north of
Britain and some parts of this country an element of grace which is
afforded by no indigenous form of North America or Europe. There are
hundreds of beautiful tropical species which await reconciliation with
men; they have that quality of sympathy which affords the natural
foundations for the contract, but this has in no case been availed of
except when the creatures, in addition to their aesthetic charm, have
possessed some economic value. There as elsewhere in the matter of
domestication the commercial motive has controlled our action.

In forming our societies as we are in time to do, account must be
taken of the sympathetic value of its elements, reckoning among these
the animals which the system brings in contact with men. Much of the
culture which has served to lift our race above its ancient savagery
has been derived from the influence of domesticated animals; in
proportion as these creatures have sympathetically responded to our
care we have been thereby educated and our spiritual development
advanced. So far as in our further choice of animals which are to be
associated with ourselves we are guided by a desire to extend this
work, we may well turn our attention towards the birds, for in that
group we may find a greater number of species which have attained the
physical beauty which attracts and the mental qualities which may
endear them to mankind. They can give us nothing that can ever come so
close to us as the dog--the unique gift of the wilderness--but they
may afford a host of forms to enrich our lives.

The mammals, because they are, in qualities of body and mind, nearer to
us than the members of any other class of animals, afford the most
promising field from which to make selections for future domestication.
In an economic sense it seems unlikely that any very great profit can
be attained by the subjugation of any of the mammalian species which
are still wild. Civilized people have been so long in contact with the
life of all the continents, and have ever been so hungry for gain, that
they have already essayed about every experiment in subjugating the
larger wild beasts which appears to be very promising. Still there are
certain cases where there have been no trials and others where the
failure to tame particular species has been due to hindrances which
systematic labor may possibly overcome. It will therefore be well to
glance at the array of the wild fo