Origin of Species Variorum

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 given of occasional and strange habits in wild animals, which, if advantageous to the species, might give rise, through natural selection, to .. new instincts. But I am well aware that these general statements, without the facts in detail, will produce but a feeble effect on the readers 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 accidental or 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 of taste, and likewise of the oddest tricks, associated with certain frames of mind or periods of time, being inherited. But let us look to the familar case of the .. breeds of the dog: it