(SO 



of communication, the details of which are unknown to us ; 

 that this is carried on in the case of land animals, at least, 

 by means of vocal sounds ; and that it is as useful to them 

 for ordinary purpose as spoken language is to us. 



" But this is not all. Whenever a successful imitation of any 

 of these sounds can be obtained, the animal of whose species it 

 is characteristic replies immediately. Thus, the mocking-bird 

 leads the whole songsters of the American forest after him, 

 who make him pay the penalty of his sport. The duck is 

 decoyed by a particular sound on the banks of the Eider, and 

 in the fens of Lincoln ; the dog is irritated when a snarling 

 sound is produced beside him, as if another dog had challenged 

 hini; and the thrush or the blackbird will reply with its 

 minstrelsey, as long as the breath or spirit of its challenger 

 holds good. What is, perhaps, more singular still, is, that 

 the very elocution of those sounds can sometimes be inter- 

 preted by man : that is to say, the meaning is gathered from 

 the tones, just as on uninitiated spectator catches the meaning 

 of a German or Italian opera. The Australian or Scotch 

 shepherd, for example, knows in a moment from the bleat of a 

 sheep, whether it has lost the flock, has met with an accident, 

 is calling for the mate, or sounding the alarm that a lamb is 

 in a dangerous situation. 



" To put this matter in a clear light, let us suppose, like 

 Dean Swift, in ' Gulliver's Travels/ that the howyhynhyms 

 had the upper hand, and that the yahoos were not only subor- 

 dinate in rank, but greatly limited in numbers. Let us 

 suppose that men were as much separated from all intercourse 

 with their kind as our domestic animals are, that two human 

 beings rarely consorted together, and that a numerous collection 

 of them at any time was strictly prohibited. Is it not 

 apparent that language would soon become unknown ; that 

 our intercourse, limited and selfish as it would be, would be 

 confined to our most brutal instincts; that a degree of stupidity 

 to which even the child of the desert is a stranger, would 



