s. The fear of man is slowly acquired, as
I have elsewhere shown, by the various animals which inhabit desert
islands; and we see an instance of this, even in England, in the greater
wildness of all our large birds in comparison with our small birds;
for the large birds have been most persecuted by man. We may safely
attribute the greater wildness of our large birds to this cause; for in
uninhabited islands large birds are not more fearful than small; and the
magpie, so wary in England, is tame in Norway, as is the hooded crow in
Egypt.

That the mental qualities of animals of the same kind, born in a state
of nature, vary much, could be shown by many facts. Several cases could
also be adduced of occasional and strange habits in wild animals, which,
if advantageous to the species, might have given rise, through natural
selection, to new instincts. But I am well aware that these general
statements, without the facts in detail, can produce but a feeble effect
on the reader's mind. I can only repeat my assurance, that I do not
speak without good evidence.

INHERITED CHANGES OF HABIT OR INSTINCT IN DOMESTICATED ANIMALS.

The possibility, or even probability, of inherited variations
of instinct in a state of nature will be strengthened by briefly
considering a few cases under domestication. We shall thus be enabled
to see the part which habit and the selection of so-called spontaneous
variations have played in modifying the mental qualities of our domestic
animals. It is notorious how much domestic animals vary in their mental
qualities. With cats, for instance, one naturally takes to catching
rats, and another mice, and these tendencies are known to be inherited.
One cat, according to Mr. St. John, always brought home game birds,
another hares or rabbits, and another hunted on marshy ground and almost
nightly caught woodcocks or snipes. A number of curious and authentic
instances could be given of various shades of disposition and taste, and
likewise of the oddest tricks, associated with certain frames of mind or
periods of time. But let us look to the familiar case of the breeds
of dogs: it cannot be doubted that young pointers (I have myself seen
striking instances) will sometimes point and even back other dogs the
very first time that they are taken out; retrieving is certainly in some
degree inherited by retrievers; and a tendency to run round, instead of
at, a flock of sheep, by shepherd-dogs. I cannot see that these