LANGUAGE, 97 



use of signs by mammals which are fully detailed in Animal 

 Intelligence. 



Mr. S. Goodbehere tells me of a pony which used to push 

 back the inside bolt of a gate in its paddock, and neigh for 

 an ass which was loose in the yard beyond ; the ass would 

 then come and push up the outside latch, thus opening the 

 gate and releasing the pony (p. 333). 



With respect to gestures, Mrs. K. Addison wrote me of 

 her jackdaw— which lived in a garden, and which she usually 

 supplied with a bath — reminding her that she had forgotten to 

 place the bath, by coming before her and going through the 

 movements of ablution upon the ground (p. 316). 



Youatt gives the case of a pig which was trained to point 



game with great precision (pp. 339,340), and this, as in the case 



of the dog, implies a high development of the sign-making 



faculty. Every sportsman must know how well a setter 



understands its own pointing, and also the poijtting of other 



dogs, as gesture-signs. As regards its own pointing, if at any 



distance from the sportsman, the animal will look back to see 



if the " point " has been noticed ; and, if it has, the point will 



be much more "steady" and prolonged than if the animal 



sees that it has not been observed. As regards the pointing 



of other dogs, the "backing" of one by another means that 



as soon as one dog sees another dog point he also stands and 



points, whether or not he is in a position to scent the game. 



In my previous work, while treating of artificial instincts, I 



have shown (as Mr. Darwin had previously remarked) that in 



well-bred sporting dogs a tendency to " back," more or less 



pronounced, is intuitive. But I have also observed among 



my own setters that even in cases where a young dog does 



not show any innate disposition to " back," by working him 



with other dogs for a short time he soon acquires the habit, 



without any other instruction than that which is supplied by 



his own observation. I have also noticed that all sporting 



dogs are liable to be deceived by the attitude which their 



companions strike when dcfcecating ; but this is probably 



due to their line of sight being so much lower than that of a 



