Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-02-26

D made all the labors Of the loom contemplate
In the comparison. | could at leisure, az
! they walked together, admire their elegant
limbs their velvet shoulders, and their silken
. wings their backs vieing with the empy.
rean in its blue and their eyes, each form
ed of a Thousand others, out-glittering the
: little grains on brilliant, above description
and too great almost for admiration.
Animals.
From Harper's Weekly.
HIGHER LIVE OF THE BRUTE CREATION.
The following anecdotes have been sent
to me by London physician, and foreibly
illustrate the faculty possessed by animals of
communicating ideas to each other The
first is an example of
DOG LANGUAGE.
While was staying in the country
with friend, a most interesting incident
was observed in the history of the dog.
"My friend had several dog. two of which
had special attachment to, and an under
standing with, each other The one was
Scotch terrier, gentle and ready to fraternize
with all honest comers. The other was as
| a. l4sA>tlu ,duu lOOhcl IKE COMPOUND
between the mastitf and the large, rough
stag-hound. He was fierce and required
some acquaintance before you knew what
faithiulness and kindness lay beneath his
rough and sayage-looking exterior. The
one was gay and lively, the other stern and
thoughtful
. These two dogs were often observed to
60 to certain point together when the small
one remained behind at a corner of large
field, while the mastitf took a round by the
side OF the field, which ran up hill for near
ly mile, and led to wood on the left.
Game abounded in those districts and the
object OF the dogs arrangement was soon
seen. The terrier would start a hare. and
chase II up the hill towards the large wood
at the summit, where they arrived somewhat
tired. At this point the large dog, which
was fresh and had rested after his walk,
dGrted after the animal which he usually
captured. They then ate the hare between
them, and returned home. This course had
been Systematically carried on for some time
before it was fully underatood.''
The next anecdote shows that animals be-
longing to different species, such as dog
and cat, can
COMMUNICATE ideas TO EACH OTHER,
and act in concert.
s. A relation of mine in Dumfriesshire had
a dog and a cat which were attached to each
other in an extraordinary manner, and both
were great favorites in the household. The
| dog, however, was not intended to sleep in
| the house and was carefully put out every
night; but, strange to say, he was always
found in the morning lying before the fire.
with the cat by his side
" One evening the master OF the house
heard sort of rap at the back-doOr lead
| ing to the kitchen and saw the sagacious cat
| spring up and strike the latch, while the
dog pushed open the door, and entered in
triumph This system must have long been
carried on, and when it was discovered, |
need not say how much interested were
members Of the household in these intelli-
gent and really wonderful creatures.
Most persons have heard of the
oELEsRArED RooK PARLIANENrs,
though very few have seen them. have an
account written by lady, who was at the
time in bad health, and was reclining
among some shawls behind n window-cur-
tain, where even the sharp-eyed rocks did
not detect her.
The account much resembles those that
have already been given by other writers,
bat Introduces one additional circumstance.
The rocks (called crows by the spectator)
assembled an circle and in the middle was one
bird looking very downcast and wretched.
Two more rocks took their places at its side,
and then vast amount Of ehattering went
on. At last the two birds, which seemed to
l-al fla iir.+a nd
flew off All the others then set on the con-
demned bird, recked it nearly to pieces, and
went away, leaving the mangled body on
the ground.
The lady who witnessed this remarkable
tones employed by the birds, and their great
expressiyeness.
This account Is corroborated by Maj. Nor
gates in his " Notes on the Indian Grow.
published in the Zooiogisf, p. $3.50.
"ruE CROW HAS MEETINGS
for some reason or other these the natives
call Punchayeti-a sort Of court.
have several times seen these Assem-
blies. Four or five crows will alight upon
an open space, generally on green grass.
Two or three will begin cawing, and in
minute or two forty or fifty Of them will
come flying towards the place by twos and
threes from every quarter. They then form
:. kind Of ring around one crow, which ap-
pears TO have been the offender against some
Of the rules of the society, and they remain
still for some minutes. the culprit never
appearing to escape. Then, all of 4 sudden
five or six of them viii attack the prisoner.
pecking him. and striking him with their
wings.
One one occasion | saw the crow left
dead on the spot, and on another the prison
er's wing was broken but those courts or
whatever they are, suddenly came to ter
mination by the too near approach OF u man
or dog. | saw one meeting which lasted
twenty minutes but no punishment was
inflicted on any Of them, and no noise was
made. The whole assembly flew off to-
gether: they were not disturbed at all, and
were eating nothing for it took place on a bare
plain. Of course, it must only be surmised
as to why these crows are punished by the
others perhaps some close observer may dis
cover the reason"
Here is casually noticed rather import
ant fact, namely, that these crow parlia-
ments are sufficiently common in India to
have received a name in the language OF that
country, and that one individual saw several
Of them. | mention this, because several
accounts of crow parliaments seen in this
country have been received with considera-
bic incredulity The reader will observe
that in all essential points the two nara
tiyes agree. My own correspondent is of
opinion that the two birds which guarded
the culprit were the accusers, and that 1t
was the duty to infiict the first blow. There
is curious parallel here with that portion
of the Mosaic law which ordained that in
case OF capital punishment there must he p
least two witnesses, and that they II ust
east the first stone at the convicted Grim
inal.
An account ofa
SIMILAR ACT or justly
is related by Mr.. j. Drew, ia Hardwicke's
Science Gossip, for Octot ,er. 1871. The
event occurred at Nanslad' ION. in Cornwall.
:. One summer aftern' ,on NV attention was
drawn to a vast asser ,blage Of rocks on our
lawn. By the terr' bic vociferations they
were making. 1t as evident that something
very unusual wvi being enacted for clam
orous as these ,irds are by nature, the noise
and exciieine' 1t of this meeting it would be
almost ilnpc ssble to describe.
- After watching them for some time, it
became lear that they were in the act of
carving out some preconcerted punishment
upon luekless offender Of their own flock
for un The ground was black object in the
form QE rock, which was evidently being
pecked at, rolled over and over, and 50 pass
ed on from rank to rank of the assembled
multitude. That it was not mere pastlme
was evident from the ruthless way in which
feathers were pulled out and continuous
blows given.
Having waited about ten minutes, we
felt curiosity to know the effect of such
ehattering ferocity upon the poor black OBJ