In the same way there are
certain physical differences for which it is very hard to account,
as the same conditions seem to operate in directly reverse ways with
different animals. No one can explain the process of natural selection
which has resulted in the otter of America being larger than the otter
of Europe, while the badger is smaller; in the mink being with us a
much stouter animal than its Scandinavian and Russian kinsman, while
the reverse is true of our sable or pine marten. No one can say why the
European red deer should be a pigmy compared to its giant brother, the
American wapiti; why the Old World elk should average smaller in size
than the almost indistinguishable New World moose; and yet the bison of
Lithuania and the Caucasus be on the whole larger and more formidable
than its American cousin. In the same way no one can tell why under
like conditions some game, such as the white goat and the spruce grouse,
should be tamer than other closely allied species, like the mountain
sheep and ruffled grouse.
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