Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-01

have some forty or fifty words at their COM
mand. The first and simplest oral sounds
are interjections. but / think the monkey
uses nouns and verbs with great significance.
His wants and an1ieties being few, the
words at his command are sufficient to
convey to another OF his kind the
thoughts he desires to express. Doubt
less monkeys have dialects. although these are
not SO distinct ours. l believe that an in
telligent monkey can be taught to converse
with 4 human being, and il Is with a view to
accomplishing this result that / am experiment
ing. As to cultivating their speech. / think it
quite as practicable as to cultivate that OF man,
though not to the same degree of perfection.
So far as am able 10 discover, the intellect,
reason and speech OF monkeys differ from the
same faculties in man in degree only and not
in kind.
Negroes have an old saying to the effect that
monkev could talk if he would. but doesn't
do 80 because he is afraid OF being put to work.
Certainly apes have almost as much power Of
speech as some African savages. whose talk
sounds like the pouring Of water from long
necked jug.
SPEECH OF crows.
Another Smithsonian curator has made study
of the speech OF crows. which really do talk with
remarkable fluency, it would appear As they
fly overhead you can hear them convsrsing,
saving to one another: 'Aw-aw-aw, ou-ou, OH
oh OH oh-aw-r-r-r."
That is ordinary crow conversation on topics
of common interest. such the state of the
weather, the prospects for the corn crop, and
so forth But the birds possess also vocal ia
cilities for the expression of various emotions.
When a flock OF them Is engaged in piliaSing
a field OF grain. sentinel crows invariably stand
around on the neiGhboring tree tops to watch
lest any one approach. If they a
person coming, they Will cry with emphasis,
''Ah, alb ah!" The note means just as plainly
as II the idea were expressed In words: Here
comes somebody Look out now! he is COM
ing directly this way, and he has gun! It's
time we were off," The fiocf stops eating at
the first alarm and quickly wings its way TO a
safe distance.
will often hear the crows exchange questions
from tree top to tree top. The tone of the IN
terrogative is unmistakable. They say: do
you see any one coming?' The birds in
tensely curious by nature. Approaching some
thing it is doubtful about but anxious to iuves-
tlgate, the crow says, All. all" in way that
means as plainly as possible Il see il. l see it,!
PUTTING A HAWK TO FLIGHT.
The curator referred to. who is such an anna
teur in crows, quite curious occurrence
one day while sitting under tree. Two crows
were in the tree. one of them near the top and
the other on the end Of g branch lower down.
A gOod-slzed hawk came along and only caught
sight Of the crow in the tree top just as he
passed over il. Now hawks do not attack crows.
Decause the idtter are TOO sUohS LOT theH; Dut
this one. finding the temptation suddenly be-
meath his nose. or rather his beak. acted on
the spur OF the moment, and, turning in his
flight suddenly, dropped upon the unexpectant
black fellow. The latters mdto had only just
time TO cry, ION. OH but that exclamation
said clearly words could have spoken it,
Horrors! look OUT" Amoment later the mate
had pounced upon the hawk and the two crows
together quickly routed the adversary.
These birds are beyond doubt the most in
telligent of AL the feathered tribe. The crow
amateur in question had a pet crow that was a