OBSERVATIONS ON THE LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS. 531 



bery. The three dogs, notwithstanding our reiterated urging, were 

 no more disposed to pursue him than before. If the assailant had 

 been a dog they would have rushed upon him, but they stayed cow- 

 ering at the gate and howled distressfully. The bitch was most 

 affected, and they all seemed paralyzed by fear. It is said in 

 the country that bitches are especially liable to be attacked by 

 wolves. It was so here. The most certain feature in the matter 

 was the terror of the animals. They were capable of resisting 

 the attack three times over. The young dog was a savage one, 

 and passers-by were afraid of the bitch ; but that night they were 

 terrorized, and all incapable of defending themselves. Their cries 

 were therefore due to the same cause as in the preceding night — 

 the presence and attacks of the wolf. I could not have realized 

 their meaning if I had not been a witness of the scene — that is, I 

 could not have correlated the cries and the acts. 



A shot at the animal behind the bushes was followed by a 

 hoarse cry. He was hit, and ran ; but, in spite of our urgings, 

 the dogs stayed at the gate and only stopped howling. Under any 

 other conditions, upon the signal of the shot they would all have 

 started in pursuit of the wounded animal. 



A wolf came to the farm during the last winter (1890-''91) and 

 attacked the same bitch. He would have carried her off, for he 

 had seized her by the throat, if we could judge from the stifled 

 cries she uttered ; but this time he found with her a new watch- 

 dog — a mountain bitch from the Pyrenees — of a breed that at- 

 tacks the wolf and the bear. The wolf would have been caught if 

 he had not run away. He did not return, for he had been attacked, 

 and learned what he had to deal with. 



The Pyrenean breed furnishes excellent watch-dogs. I knew 

 one of remarkable traits. At evening he would go round the 

 house, giving two or three growls at each door. With his head 

 raised he seemed to listen to his fine voice, then he would start 

 again and go to another door. He seemed desirous to show those 

 who were observing him that he was attending to his post as 

 guardian. He then went away in silence along the walk, through 

 a dark, rising hedgerow, leaping the slight hillock, yelping, to- 

 ward the wood. He listened, yelped again, and went in. There 

 was never any failure in this performance, but every evening as 

 night was coming on he began his round, which no one had taught 

 him. It was all done in his function as a guard. It would be 

 hard to determine what his yelps meant, but there were in them 

 an inflection, a sonorousness, and a continuance quite different 

 from those he uttered when pursuing a passer-by or when going 

 to meet a person coming toward the house. Every one who has a 

 watch-dog is able to tell by the sound of his barking when a per- 

 son is coming up, and usually what sort of a visitor it is. 



