The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-02
DO QUADRUPEDs TALK.
They Do Not Ask Questions, But
'LOoIx'' Them and Make Statements.

Look" Them and Make Statements.
From the London Spectator.
Unlike children. animals do not nsk
questions. They only look" them, and.
though they constantly and anxiously in
quire what is to be done, how il is 20 be
done and the exact wishes of their mas
tiers, and occasionally even of other ami
mails, the inquiry is made by the eye and
attitude. A terrier for instance, can al
most transform his whole body into "A note
of interrogation.
or the two remaining forms of speech
statement and request-the animals make
very large use, but employ the latter in
far greater degree than the former. They
use sounds for request, not only in parglc-
ular cases in which they desire some
thing to be done for them, but also m a
great number of cases IN which the fc-
quest is a form of warning-"ComeW BE
CAREFUL" Look outw GO ahea ~
"Help!' The speech which indicates dan
ger is sufficiently differentiated. Birds for
Instance, have separate notes OF warning
to indicate whether the danger is IN the
form of a hawk or cat, or of a man II
a hawk cat, or owl is on the move, the
birds, especially blackbirds. always utter
gathering note, constantly repeated and
chickens have special sound to indicate
the presence of hawk. But when dis
turbed by man the blackbirds have quite
a different sound of alarm, and the CHICK
ems also. Animals on the march are usu-
ally silent; but the hamadryad balloons
use several words of command, and the
cries of cranes and geese. when flying In
ordered 1ocks, are possibly signals for or
ders.
Various monkeys, geese, a goat, eve
with a lamb, elephants. cats very COM
monty, and dogs innumerable. are credited
with "accosting" persons and bringing 10
their notice by vocal means the objects
they desire or the actions they wish done
A most ingeniously constructed request Of
this kind was made 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 al horses head or
when excited, but the persuasive and con-
iidentia kind of bark which is used in re-
quests and reproaches. He was very in
sistent, especially when small, dark
passage was reached, up which he ran
still barking. As this did not answer, the
dog ran back and took the writer's hand,
in which he was carrying his glove, in his
mouth and gave a gentle pull in the d.
rection of the passage. AS TINS did not meet
with the attention desired the dog pulled
the glove out OF the hand and carried it off
up the passage, keeping few yards in
front and waving its tail in friendly way
This naturally led TO pursuit, when the
dog, still keeping ahead, dropped the glove
in front of a gate leading into a butchers
yard, and began to bark again. AS it OBJ
viously wanted the gate to be opened. this
was DONE and 1t trotted In without further
remark Every one who has kept dogs
knows the tone Of the bark Of request-a
low "wouf" very unlike the staccato bark
of anger, or vexation. or remonstrance.
A bull dog at the Earl's Court dog show
made his particular part of the bench al
most uncomfortable by this form OF bark,
kept up las we heard for nearly three
hours without stop. because he was jeal-
Gus Of the attentions paid to the dog ext
to him This had won the first prize, and,