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Show 212 INSTINCT. CHAP. VII. the mi.g ratory I·n s tI' nc t , b ot h I·n extent and dir.e ct.i o. n ' and I.n I'ts t ot al loss. So it is with the nhes ts o. f bu. ds, which vary partly in dependence on t e situatiOns chosen, and on the nature and temperature of the country inhabited, but often from causes wholly un-k novvn to us : Audubon has given several re.m ar.k abhl e cases of differences in nests of the same spemes In t e northern and southern United States. F ear of any particular enemy is .certa~nly an insti:~l.C~ive quality, as may be seen in nesthng buds,. though It IS strengthened by experience, and by the sight of fear of ~he same enemy in other animals. But fear of m~n IS s~owly acquired, as I have elsewhere shown, by vanous .animals inhabiting desert islands; a~d we may see a~ Instance of this even in England, In the greater wildness of all oui~ large birds than of our small birds ; for ~he large birds have been most persec~ted 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 general disposition of individuals of the same species, born in a state of nature, is extremely diversified, can be shown by a multitude of facts. Several cases also, could be given, of occasional and strange habits in certain species, which might, if advantageous to the species, give rise, through natural selection, to quite new instincts. But I am well aware that these general statements, without facts given 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 evidenc~. The possibility, or even probability, of inh~~·Ited variations of instinct in a state of nature w1ll be strengthened by briefly considering a few cases under CHAP. VII. DOMESTIC INSTINCTS. 213 domestication. We shall thus als b bl d h . o e ena e to see t e respective parts which habit and th 1 t' f ll d . e se ec wn o so-ca e acmdental variations have played . d'f . h . . In mo 1 ying t e mental quaht1es of our domestic animals A b f . · num er o cunous and authentic instances could b · f th 'nh · e given o e I entance of all shades of disposition and t t d 1.1 . f h . as es, an 1 rewis~ o t e oddest tricks, associated with certain frames of mind or periods of time. But let u 1 k t th f: . 1 . s oo .o e ami Iar case of the several breeds of dogs : it cannot be doubted that young pointers (I have If t 'k' . royse seen a s r1 Ing Instance) will sometimes point and even batc k othe·r d.o gs .t he very first time that they are t a k en ou ~ retneVIng 1s certainly in some degree inherited by retnevers ; and a tendency to run round instead f t a flock of_ sheep, by shepherd-dogs. I c~nnot see 0 t;at these action.s, performed without experience by the Y?ung, and In near~y the same manner by each indiVI~ ual, performed With eager delight by each breed, and Without the end being known,-for the young pointer can no more know that he points to aid his master than the white butterfly knows why she lays her egg~ on .the l~af of the ~abbage,-I cannot see that these actiOns differ essentially from true instincts. If we were to. s~e one kind of wolf, when young and without any t~airung, as soon as it scented its prey, stand motionless l~ke a ~tatue, and then slowly crawl forward with a peculiar gait ; and another kind of wolf rushing round ~stead of. at, a herd of deer, and driving them to ~ di~ta~t pmnt, we should assuredly call these actions instmctive. Domestic instincts, as they may be called ~ret' certainly far less fixed or invariable than natural ~:s Incts;. but they have been acted on by far less rigor-a: aselectiOn, and have been transmitted for an incomp H bly shorter period, under less fixed conditions of life. ow strongly these domestic instincts, habits, and dis- |