St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-01-15
Higher Life of Animals.
LASGI AGE.

language and combination are given by
Colonel w. Campbell in his Indian
journal. The writer is perhaps better
known by his nom de plane, The old
Forest Ranger" He was at Rance Ben
more on hunting expedition.
Il witnessed this morning a curious
instance of woltish generalship that i'll
terested me much, and which. in my
humble opinion, goes far to prove that
ANIMALS are endowed to Il certain eX-
tent with reasoning faculties, and have
means OF communicating their ideas to
each other.
Il was lis usual scanning the horizon
with my telescope at day to see if
any game WAS in sight. | had diScov-
cred Il small herd of antelopes feeding
III il field from which the crop had late
ly been removed, and was about to take
the glass from my eye for the purpose
of accommodating the ground. when. in
a remote quarter of the field, concealed
from the antelOpes by few intervening
! bushes, ! family disccIue1 in the gray
twilight pack of SIX wolves. seated on
their hind quarters like dogs. and ap-
| parently i'll deep consultation.
''lt appeared evident that. like my
self. they wanted venison. and had
some design upon the antelopes; and
being anxious to witness the mode of
proceeding adopted 10y these tour-lrg"ed
poachers, | determined to watch their
motions. accordingly diSmountcd,
leaving my horse in charge of the sowar
/ and creeping as near the scene of action
as could. without being discovered.
concealed my self behind Il bush.
IL,
/ plan of attack, the wolves separated.
one remaining stationary, the other five
creeping cautiously round the edge of
/ the field. like settlers drawing i'll Il shy
coNev of birds. In this manner they
surrounded the un>Uspecting herd, one
/ wolf lying down at each corner of the
field. and the fifth creeping silently
/ toward the centre of it. where he con-
cealed himself III il deep fulrow.
The sixth wolf. which had not Yet
moved. now started from his hiding
/ place and made Il dash at the antelopc>
! he graceful creatures. confident i'll
their matchleSS speed. tossed their heads
AZ If in di>daim. and started oil III Il Sc
lies of tiN ing bounds. that soon lett
their puISIcr tar behind. But no soon
er did they approach the edge nf the
field than one of the crouching wolves
STATED up. turned them. and chased
them III a contrary direction. while his
/ painting accomplicc lay down in his
place t" secure wind for il fresh burst.
Again ;lIr bounding herd dashed across
ti'c PLAIN, hoping To escape on the op-
p">itc SIDE: but here they were once
more headed 10y one of the crafty SaNa-
gr>. which took mp the chase in his turn
and c"urScd them till relieved 10y ii
fresh hand from an uppOSitr quarter.
In tins manner the prosecuted animals
were driven from side to side and from
corner t" corner. fresh as>itilant head
ing them at every turn. till they ap-
praicd perfectly >tupctird with fear.
amt. cr"Wding together like frightened
sheep. began Ia wheel round in dimiu-
l>hlmg circles.
All this time the wolf which laN
concealed III the turrow near the centre
of the field had never moved and al
though the altrl"pc> had passed and
rcpa>>ed within Il few feet of him and
hdd. perhaps. even jumped over him.
his time inr action had NOT Vet arrived.
1t now hrramc evident that the uutuI-
tuuatc antclupc> must soon he tired
ont. when 1t Appeared prnhahlr that the
surrounding wolves would have made Il
combined attack. and driven the terri
fed herd toward the centre of the field.
where the wolf which had hitherto been
lying in reserve would have sprung up
III the midst of them. and secured at
least one victim"
1t this period of the proceedings the
spectator shot ,he nearest wolf. where
nr"n the other five drcampcd and al
lowed the autelnprS To escape.
Here we have reason and Il power of
combination for mutual action that
would have done credit to human be
ing>.
The auccdote shows also that there j.
much moic detail in the language of
auimal> than is generally supposed.
Each had lis different post assigned. 80
thj the wolves must have poSSeS>cd
some means of indicating that locality :
and each uudrrtook to play its own
part III Il scheme of no small intliracv.
80 that th'lr language must have been
capable of expressing abstract ideas
MI. Walter Elliot. also Il mighty In
dian hunter mentions in his fuot-note
to- Colonel Campbcl's account that he
has witnessed similar instances of COM
himatinn on the part of the same ami
NAL. Once he saw three gaZellcS chased
10y Il single wolf. They made for Il
''nullah. or ravinr, and plunged into
il. Presently two of the giZelleS hound
ell up the opposite bank of the nullal.
but the third gazelle and the wolf were
missing. Going to the nullah in order
to discover what had become of the an
ImalS, Mr.. Elliot found the missing ra-
zcllC i'll the jaws of three wolves. 1t
was evident that it had been deceived
into an ambush. two wolves having
hidden themselves in the nullah, and
the third driven the gazelles TO the
spot where his accomplices were con
cealed. TINS making up by cunning for
lack of speed.
rather think that each species has its
own dialect. and that there is another
language which is common to ala
sort of animal HngU0 frdnc0, or pigeon
English" For example, a cry of warm
ing, no matter from what bird or ami
nal it comes, is understood by them all,
aS Is well known to many sportsman
who has lost his only chance of il shot
by reason of an impertinent jay, crow
or magpie which has spied him, and has
given its cry of alarm.
In Mansfield Parkyn's work on Abys-
sinia is remarkable account of Ian
guage and the consequent power of
combination among the monkey tribe:
''Iou may see them quarrelling, ma
king love, mothers taking care of their
children, combing their hair, nursing
and sucking them; and the passions,
jealousy, anger, love, as fully and dis
tinctly marked as in men. They have
Il language as distinct to them as ours