cites the case of one of his own deerhounds, who would not take any
notice of a particular female mastiff, so that another deerhound had to
be employed. It would be superfluous to give, as I could, other
instances, and I will only add that Mr. Barr, who has carefully bred
many bloodhounds, states that in almost every instance particular
individuals of opposite sexes shew a decided preference for each other.
Finally, Mr. Cupples, after attending to this subject for another year,
has written to me, I have had full confirmation of my former
statement, that dogs in breeding form decided preferences for each
other, being often influenced by size, bright colour, and individual
characters, as well as by the degree of their previous familiarity.
In regard to horses, Mr. Blenkiron, the greatest breeder of race-horses
in the world, informs me that stallions are so frequently capricious in
their choice, rejecting one mare and without any apparent cause taking
to another, that various artifices have to be habitually used. The
famous Monarque, for instance, would never consciously look at the dam
of Gladiateur, and a trick had to be practised. We can partly see the
reason why valuable race-horse stallions, which are in such demand as
to be exhausted, should be so particular in their choice. Mr. Blenkiron
has never known a mare reject a horse; but this has occurred in Mr.
Wright s stable, so that the mare had to be cheated. Prosper Lucas (48.
Traite de l Hered. Nat. tom. ii. 1850, p. 296.) quotes various
statements from French authorities, and remarks, On voit des etalons
qui s eprennent d une jument, et negligent toutes les autres. He
gives, on the authority of Baelen, similar facts in regard to bulls;
and Mr. H. Reeks assures me that a famous short-horn bull belonging to
his father invariably refused to be matched with a black cow.
Hoffberg, in describing the domesticated reindeer of Lapland says,
Foeminae majores et fortiores mares prae caeteris admittunt, ad eos
confugiunt, a junioribus agitatae, qui hos in fugam conjiciunt. (49.
Amoenitates Acad. vol. iv. 1788, p. 160.) A clergyman, who has bred
many pigs, asserts that sows often reject one boar and immediately
accept another.
From these facts there can be no doubt that, with most of our
domesticated quadrupeds, strong individual antipathies and preferences
are frequently exhibited, and much more commonly by the female than by
the male. This being the case, it is improbable that the unions of
quadrupeds in a state of nature should be left to mere chance. It is
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