2i8 ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



have but scanty means for expressing their emotions, 

 but their power of apprehending spoken words and other 

 sounds far surpasses that of the parrot. A cavalry-horse 

 learns to distinguish about fifty different commands, be- 

 sides their equivalent bugle-signals. People who will 

 content themselves with looked and acted answers can 

 carry on a regular dialogue with an intelligent dog. A 

 poodle will distinguish an exclamation from a command, 

 a question from an invitation, a compliment from a per- 

 suasive coax, a warning from a taunt, and even a banter- 

 ing taunt from a real reproof. The memory of an old 

 hunting-dog is stocked with a regular glossary of vena- 

 torial slang, and the inability of animals to discern the 

 elements of articulate speech only increases the wonder : 

 they seem to depend exclusively upon the differences of 

 intonation which a speaker somehow adapts to the sense 

 of the essential words. Domestic pets will recognize 

 their master in almost any disguise, but it is still more 

 difficult to deceive them by a dissembled pronunciation : 

 in the darkest night dogs and monkeys identify an old 

 acquaintance by a single word, or even by the mere 

 sound of his voice. 



It is a strange fact that in night-time an unknown sound 

 will scare monkeys almost out of their wits. The creak- 

 ing of a wheelbarrow, a whisper, the rustling of a win- 

 dow-curtain, is enough to throw them into a fit of horri- 

 fied screams and contortions; capuchin monkeys rush 

 wildly through their cage, macaques try to force their 



