The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1914-01-29
LANGUAGE OF FOWLS.
Other Animals, Too, Have Modes of
Expression.

Domestic fowls are able TO make at
least % different notes or cries, all of
which convey distinct meanings, be-
sides others observed but not yet
classified or explained This is the
conclusion of Edward Carpenter and
George Merrill, who contribute an &C
count of their Investigations to the
Humanitarian If tame birds have so
respectable vocabulary. they say,
wild ones must have a very large one,
especially as the ordinary hen is not
noted for intelligence. Probably. they
think. domestication, in this case at
any rate. has actually diminished
alertness and resource in the fowls
and correspondingly restricted the
range of their speech" Messrs Car
penter and Merrill preface their paper
with word about language in ami
mails. They say
Our words, highly articulate and
differentiated mostly define objective
things or actions-the sun, the moon
tree, man. to kill. to eat, and so
forth. 1t is chiefly by combinations
of them that we express our feelings
/ But with animals their language from
the beginning consists of cries which
express their subjective feelings di-
rectly, for example, the Kissing or
purring of a cat. 1t is only in sec
ondary way that these cries sometimes
indicate an objective thing-as when
hearing a cat splitting we surmise the
presence of dog. Thus animals have
primarily a language of the emotions.
and their emotional states they con-
yey to each other with extraordinary
rapidity and distinctness-as when a
/ flock of rocks in a hold is suddenly
warned or alarmed by a sentinel rock !;
but secondarily, their languages do no
doubt in cases convey distinct images,
as when the sentinel rock by some in
| Election of the voice is able to indi-
cate that the particular course of
alarm is man with gun. OF course
! in many cases movement combined
with a cry will give definite definition
to the meaning define for in
attraction. When hen utters a
quick squeal and Immediately crouch
es in the grass, she says as clearly as
words could do: There is a hawk
overhead. We have heard a hen ut
/ ter this cry, and instantly the chicks
only two or three weeks old-haye
rushed in all directions and hid them
selves motionless in the grass. Or in
cases there may be no voice or cry at
all-the hen may just simply crouch
down-and with the same result; the
chicks hide themselves, knowing we'll
what she means Or, again. wasp
may bring the smell of strawberry
jam to another wasp, and then at once
fly away with such a Whiz as says I'M
mistakably. Come this way and you
will find strawberry jam In all
these cases there is language in a
sense: definite acts or sounds having
definite meanings.
The cries or notes, which are given
in tabular form, with annOtations, in
clude such sounds as cackling, grumb-
ling, scolding. clucking, grooming,
purring and growing besides many
others that have to BE- defined rather
than named. The authors comment
upon them runs as follows
These % cries or notes, are all very
distinct and convey distinct meanings,
and must denote a considerable degree
of intelligence. AS we have said,
there is a good deal to show that the
sureness and precision of their in
stincts have, in the case of domestic
! fowls, been adversely affected by their
long dependence on man. Their rea-
soning power is also very weak,
though whether this has been inn
proved or deterorated by the intu-
ence of man, we do not know. Fowls
on the outside of a large pen, when
they see the others being led inside
will almost invariably rush violently
against the wire netting in vain en-
deavor to reach the food-though they
have been round hundreds of times by
the usual entrance. and must know It
perfectly well; and it is only occa-
sionally that some exceptional genius
after few efforts at the netting, be-
thinks herself of the better way.