MILITARY TACTICS OF ANIMALS 49 



the field with 'a firm, active, light-infantry step/ St 

 John says : ' When the sentry thinks that he has 

 performed a fair share of duty, he gives the nearest 

 bird to him a sharp peck. I have seen him some- 

 times pull out a bunch of feathers if the first hint 

 is not immediately attended to, and at the same time 

 uttering a querulous kind of cry/ St John was 

 constantly baulked of a shot by these sentinel geese, 

 and when stalking wild swans on a loch, he noticed 

 that the whole flock would sometimes have their 

 heads under water except a sentry, who was relieved 

 from time to time. The Port Meadow geese near 

 Oxford prefer to roost, except in floods, on a mud- 

 bank in the river, where they are perfectly safe from 

 attack. It is necessary that the sentry should be 

 able to give a signal of danger which shall be uni- 

 versally understood, and it will be found that most of 

 the animals named have a special alarm-note. Ibex, 

 marmots, and mountain-sheep whistle, prairie-dogs bark, 

 elephants trumpet, wild geese and swans have a kind 

 of bugle-call, rabbits stamp on the ground, sheep do 

 the same, and wild ducks, as the writer has noticed, 

 utter a very low, cautious quack to signal ' The 

 enemy in sight/ Tactics of offence are rare among 

 the larger gregarious animals. Deer, antelopes, sheep, 

 and even wild horses are generally peaceable creatures, 

 and if a dispute arises between two herds, the 



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