The evening times., 1898-04-16
DO ANIMALS TALKP
Instances of Intelligent Communica-
ton Between Them.

ought to conform to the dfvfs1onS OF
human speech. There must. in fact, be
an animal grammar" in the terms of
which they express themselves. 1t is
! no bad test of the assertion that animal
speech exists to apply the old formal
divisions of the grammarian to the
instances in which they appear to
voice" their thoughts, and ascertain
by trial whether the forms into which
the human speech has been divided mt
the latter. The time-honored divisions
of speech are O statement OF fact; (2)
request, including commands; (0 ques-
ton. 1t is not to be supposed that the
very limited range and simple charac-
ter of animal wants and ideas would
necessarily bring into play the whole
of this category of articulate speech.
But, as a fact, they do need to use all
three forms of expression, but omit the
last. Unlike children, animals do not
ask questions. They only ''look" them,
and, though they constantly and anx-
iously inquire what is to be done, how
it is to be done, and the exact wishes
of their masters, and occasionally even
of other animals, the inquiry is made
by the eye and attitude. A terrier, for
instance, can almost transform his
whole body into an animated note of in
terrogation.
OF the two remaining forms of speech
statement and request-the animals
make very large use, but employ the
latter in a far greater degree than the
former. They use sounds for request,
not only in particular cases in which
they desire something to be done for
them, but also in a great number of
cases in which the request is a form Of
warning - "COmei" BE careful"
Look out,'' Go aheadl' 'Help!"
The speech which indicates danger is
sufficiently differentiated. Birds, for
instance. have separate notes Of warn
ing to indicate whether the danger Is
in the form Of a hawk or cat, or of a
man. If a hawk, cat or fowl is on the
move the birds, especially blackbirds,
always utter a clattering note, con-
stantly repeated, and chickens have
special sound to indicate the presence
of hawk. But when disturbed by man
the blackbirds have quite a fifferent
sound of alarm and the chickens also.
Animals on the march are usully silent;
but the hamadryad balloons use sew
eral words of command, and the cries
of cranes and geese when flying in or
dered fiocks are very possibly signals
or orders.
Specific requests are commonly made
by sound. which the animal intends
TO be taken as expressing a want, while
il indicates what il wants by showing
the object. The greatest difficulty is
when the object wanted, or required
to be dealt with, is not present The
animal has then to induce you 10 follow
and see the thing, and this often leads
to great ingenuity both in the use of
voice and action. This form of request
is practiced more or less successfully
by considerable number Of the ami
mails kept as pets or servants of man.
Various monkeys geese a goat a eve
with a lamb. elephants. cats very COM
monty and dogs innumerable are cred
tied with ''accOsting persons" and
to their notice by vocal means
the objects they desire or the actions
they wish done. A most ingeniously
request of this kind was
made a few years ago by retriever
dog late one night in London The
streets were empty, and the dog came
up and. after wagging his tail, began to
bark-using not the rowdy bark, which
dogs employ when jumping a horses
head or when excited. but the persuas-
I've and confidential kind of a bark
proaches- He was very persistent, es-
pecially when a small. dark passage
was reached, up to which he ran, still
barking. AS this did not answer. the I
log ran back, and took the writer's I
hand in which he was carrying his 4
glove. in his mouth. and gave a gentle 4
pull in the direction of the passage. As
his did not meet with the attention
desired the dog pulled the glove out Of
he hand and carried il off up the pass
ig> keeping a few yards in front and .
waving his tail in a friendly way: this 4
naturally led TO pursuit. when the dog. /
still keeping ahead. dropped the glove /
N front of a gate leading into butch
RS yard, and began to bark again. As =
ne obviously wanted the gate 10 be /
lpensd this was done. and he trOtted in /
Without further remark.
Every one who has kept dogs knows !
he tone of the bark Of reQuest-a low /
'wouf." very unlike the staccatO bark 4
# anger, or vexatiOn, or remonstTdnce- /
A bulldog at the Earl Court Dog Show 4
made his particular part Of the bench I
almost uncomfortable by this form of 4
bark. kept up (as we heard) for nearly 1
hree hours without a stop. because he 4
vas Jealous Of the attentions paid To I
he dog next him. This had won the /
first prize and consequently received /
all the admiration; so the other dog 1
parked short sharp. incessant yelps at I
lim all day long, only stopping when /
,Ome one patted him. We believe that |
eopards are absolutely silent crea-
ures; but many of the felidae have a /
particular sound of request. In the cat /
very low. short NEW is commonly 4
ised when the object is near. and will /
almost certainly be granted, such as 4
l.lA
water or milk. Unusual food which il /
ancies it will not get is asked for in an
1ther note. and any request not at |
ended to is repeated in the different |
Key. The tiger uses the low new in |
some form of conversation with the |
igress. and the puma when domestic |
ited has a considerable range of notes |
o ask for food, water and society. or to |
return thanks: the latter being, as in /
he case of the cat and tiger. kind |
If purr.
Statement In animal speech is |
mainly confined to indications that the |
,reature has made a discovery. good or /
bad. For the former the cock has, !
perhaps. the most distinct set of sounds; |
hey are quite unlike any other note he
Ises, and are confined TO the assertion /
hat he has found something good to
at Cock pigeons do the same. and we !
imagine that geese have an equivalent
iound. Dogs have two forms Of s5s--ld
o state a discovery, elephants only one.
The dog barks loud and sharply over
new, or merely surprising.
We have seen a dog barking this way /
when a couple of geographical globes /
we're placed in a window-objects he
lad never seen and wished to call at
ention to. But a painful discovery,
af
wounded man is sometimes /
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