2i 4 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



the tiny chick was launched on to the lake, and in 

 a few minutes had rejoined its family. 



It is difficult to guess how far animals of different 

 species understand one another's voices ; probably 

 they only learn to interpret the language of their 

 natural enemies or natural prey, for few animals con- 

 cern themselves with anything that does not affect 

 them personally. But dogs, which express themselves 

 more by gesture than by sound, apparently learn to 

 understand something of the language of whatever 

 race of men they are associated with, and can learn to 

 converse to some extent with horses, cattle, sheep, 

 cats, and some birds. This is certainly not because 

 there is any common language between them. For 

 Professor Garner, who devoted several years to the 

 study of monkey language, found that even among 

 different species of these there was no common code, 

 or monkey " Esperanto " ; and a very careful study of 

 the creatures which he kept in captivity in their native 

 country proved that such sounds as the different species 

 utter are very limited in number, and do not express 

 more ideas than other and better known animals 

 convey to each other by the voice. The chim- 

 panzee, for instance, has distinct sounds for the 

 ideas of food, recognition, fear, affection, warning, 

 and discomfort, and two gestures of negation a 

 movement of the arm away from the body and 

 towards the person addressed, and that of turning 

 its back and moving the arm backwards. Other 

 apes have a more limited vocabulary, and though their 

 intelligence is of a very high order, their means of 



