Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-02

Perhaps there is no one owning q
dog or cat who has not wished. at
some time or other. that his pet could
talk. All such will he interested in
the following essayette, contributed
by valued friend of this column, on
the subject:
Cat TALK
while working on his invention of
the Telephone DR. Rell studied the
throat Of the cat. because its vocal or
gsrfs resembled those of mankind. so
far as know. no one has studded the
cats vocalisation az language; vet
every one recognizes certain OF the
cats words.
For instance. there liz the war song
or hymn Of hate, the battle cry. the
deep growl OF menace. the 'miaou of
entreaty or demand. the purr OF con
tentment. Cat lovers know besides
the charming little sound. a lightly
trilIed new with which the cat greets
a friend or calls to his mistress. 1t
corresponds in cat language to the
Hawaiian Aloha. which means
Greeting" or Farewell" or simply
love according as 1t is used.
when his friend Columbus comes
into Kits yard. Kit greets him with
this sound, and usually also goes to
meet him when they put their noses
together in what certainly appears to
he kiss. Bimbo. when playing hide
and.seek. would go into a dark room
to hide. and then call his mistress to
hunt for him with this sound. Billy
and Polly used 1t when playing hide.
and.seek with each other. Sometimes
1t means Please pet me- This word
In the cat dictionary might be defined
as Friend" (vocativel, or affection.
is xxx which means bird, or
something flying The X sound Is
pronounced somewhat gutturally in
the throat, with the mouth open. Cats
OF different breeds in different parts
of the United States. even az far az
the Hawaiian Islands, use this word,
and with practice human can say
it well enough to give the idea to a
cat.
"One day 1 was trying for some
time to swat fiy. 1t was big. loud
buzzing, frenzied. darting from one
side of the room to the other at sharp
angles. faster than my eye could fol.
low. Whenever I swatted,' 1t wasn't
there. Bimbo sat rather high up on
cabinet. watching with evident in
terest. but saying nothing. His eyes
were quick enough to follow the fiy's
zigZags, and he no doubt understood
what | was trying to debut it wasn't
his hunt.
Then suddenly the sharp buzzing
ceased, and no fly was visible. oh.
Bimbo.' / said. I've lost my Ayr
xxx responded Bimbo. instantly.
and. jumping down, ran across the
room. and pointed the fly, where it
was hiding In Yold OF the window
curtain. There is no question in my
mind that Bimbo knew from the tone
OF my voice that l wanted the fly, and
was showing Ii TO me. And the fact
that he made no sound until | spoke
to him, and then used the Aging
word. showed that he was answer
ing me.
when one considers what the
word dumb means, az applied to ami
mails, and how seldom we can convey
a thought TO them, and receive an
answer, II is great satisfaction to
succeed in so doing.
Those who love animals under
stand them and are understood by
them without words, but how much
more could we not learn, IL only we
could communicate even little
through words. The cats yocaliza-
lions have so great a range both In
pitch and form OF sounds, and are so
unmistakable In meaning, II would
seem that a trained Investigator might
make q study OF cat language, as has