220 DO ANIMALS TALK? 



inquire what is to be done, how it is to be done, and 

 the exact wishes of their masters, and occasionally even 

 of other animals, the inquiry is made by the eye and 

 attitude. A terrier, for instance, can almost transform 

 his whole body into an animated note of interrogation. 



Of the two remaining forms of speech statement 

 and request the animals make very large use, but 

 employ the latter in a far greater degree than the 

 former. They use sounds for request, not only in par- 

 ticular cases in which they desire something to be done 

 for them, but also in a great number of cases in which 

 the request is a form of warning : ' Come !' ' Be 

 careful! 1 ' Look out!' 'Go ahead!' 'Help!' The 

 speech which indicates danger is sufficiently differenti- 

 ated. Birds, for instance, have separate notes of warn- 

 ing to indicate whether the danger is in the form of a 

 hawk or cat, or of a man. If a hawk, cat, or owl is on 

 the move, the birds, especially blackbirds, always utter a 

 clattering note, constantly repeated, and chickens have 

 a special sound to indicate the presence of a hawk. 

 But when disturbed by man the blackbirds have quite a 

 different sound of alarm and the chickens also. Animals 

 on the march are usually silent; but the hamadryad 

 baboons use several words of command ; and the cries 

 of cranes and geese when flying in ordered flocks are 

 very possibly signals or orders. 



Specific requests are commonly made by a sound, 



