| → terrier: the act of pointing is probably, as many have thought, only the exaggerated pause of an animal preparing to spring on its prey. 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| terrier. 1859 |
|
| → to point was 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| was 1859 |
|
| → in most cases, to 1861 1866 1869 |
| to 1859 1860 1872 |
|
| → and I presume 1859 1860 1861 |
| alone; so 1866 1869 1872 |
|
| → the whole of the 1859 1860 1861 |
| the 1866 |
| at least the greater part of the 1869 1872 |
|
|
would ever have thought of teaching, or probably could have taught, the tumbler-pigeon to tumble,— an action which, as I have witnessed, is performed by young birds, that have never seen a pigeon tumble. We may believe that some one pigeon showed a slight tendency to this strange habit, and that the long-continued selection of the best individuals in successive generations made tumblers what they now are; and near Glasgow there are house-tumblers, as I hear from Mr. Brent, which cannot fly eighteen inches high without going head over heels. It may be doubted whether any one would have thought of training a dog to point, had not some one dog naturally shown a tendency in this line; and this is known occasionally to happen, as I once
in a pure
→terrier: the act of pointing is probably, as many have thought, only the exaggerated pause of an animal preparing to spring on its prey. When the first tendency
→to point was
once displayed, methodical selection and the inherited effects of compulsory training in each successive generation would soon complete the work; and unconscious selection is still
as each man tries to procure, without intending to improve the breed, dogs which
stand and hunt best. On the other hand, habit alone in some cases has sufficed;
animal is more
→in most cases, to
tame than the young of the wild rabbit; scarcely any animal is tamer than the young of the tame rabbit; but I
suppose that domestic rabbits have
been selected for
→and I presume
that we must attribute
→the whole of the
inherited change from extreme wildness to extreme tameness,
to habit and long-continued close confinement. |
|
| Natural instincts are lost under domestication: a remarkable instance of this is seen in those breeds of fowls which very rarely or never become "broody,"
|
