THE VOICE OF ANIMALS 251 



duced than would be thought possible. Some of 

 the large baboons are awful in their vocalisations. 

 Terrible agony or remorse is all that their moans 

 suggest to us, no matter what frame of mind on 

 the part of the baboon induces them. Of all verte- 

 brates the tiny marmosets reproduce most exactly 

 the chirps of crickets and similar insects, and to 

 watch one of these little human faces, see its mouth 

 open, and instead of, as seems natural, words issu- 

 ing forth, to hear these shrill squeaks is most sur- 

 prising. Young orang-utans, in their "talk," as 

 well as in their actions, are counterparts of human 

 infants. The scream of frantic rage when a 

 banana is offered and jerked away, the wheedling 

 tone when the animal wishes to be comforted by 

 the keeper on account of pain or bruise, and the 

 sound of perfect contentment and happiness when 

 petted by the keeper whom it learns to love, all 

 are almost indistinguishable from like utterances 

 of a human child. 



But how pitiless is the inevitable change of the 

 next few years ! Slowly the bones of the cranium 

 thicken, partly filling up the brain cavity, and 

 slowly but surely the ape loses all affection for 

 those who take care of it. More and more morose 

 and sullen it becomes until it reaches a stage of 

 unchangeable ferocity and must be doomed to 

 close confinement, never again to be handled or 

 caressed. 



