OF WILD ANIMALS 37 



our best bull bellow five times, while another did the same 

 thing four times. 



The sound uttered was a deep- voiced roar, not a grunt, 

 rising and falling in measured cadence, and prolonged about 

 four or five seconds. It was totally different from the ordi- 

 nary grunt of hunger, or the menace of an angry buffalo, which 

 is short and sharp. In discussing the quality of the bellow, 

 we agreed that it could properly be called a low roar. It is 

 heard only in the rutting season, the period described by 

 Catlin, and there is good reason to believe that Catlin's 

 description is perfectly correct. 



The Scream of the Puma. This is a subject that will 

 not lie still. I presume it will recur every five years as long 

 as pumas endure. Uncountable pages of controversial letters 

 have been expended upon the question: "Does the puma ever 

 scream, like a woman in distress?" 



The true answer is easy, and uncontestable by people whose 

 minds are open to the rules of evidence. 



Yes; the adult female puma DOES scream, in the mating 

 season, whenever it comes. It is loud, piercing, prolonged, 

 and has the agonized voice qualities of a boy or a woman 

 screaming from the pain of a surgical operation. To one who 

 does not know the source or the cause, it is nerve-racking. 

 When heard in a remote wilderness it must be truly fearsome. 

 It says "Ow-w-w-w!" over and over. We have heard it a 

 hundred times or more, and it easily carries a quarter of a mile. 



The language of animals is a long and interesting subject, 

 so much so that here it is possible only to sketch out and sug- 

 gest its foundations and scope. On birds alone, an entire 

 volume should be written; but animal intelligence is a subject 

 as far reaching as the winds of the earth. 



No man who ever saw high in the heavens a V-shaped 

 flock of wild geese, or heard the honk language either afloat, 

 ashore or in the air, will deny the spoken language of that 

 species. If any one should do so, let him listen to the wild- 



