306 VOCAL LANGUAGE. 



interesting fact that the song of the nightingale and of other 

 singing birds is capable of reduction to and interpretation 

 by words. It may be translated into man's written words, 

 and it is therefore in a sense quite proper to speak of the 

 articulation of bird song. 



Not a few authors have directed attention to the fact 

 that many of the modes of expression employed by the lower 

 animals are to be regarded as the equivalents of speech in 

 man. Thus in this sense certain animals have been said, 

 with perfect propriety, to possess watchwords that is, sounds 

 or signs that are analogous in their uses to watchwords. 

 Others are said to speak to or converse with each other to 

 tell or ask news, to address or harangue assemblies, to call 

 one another or man. 



Barking in the dog is the physiological equivalent of 

 speech in man, according to Terrier. Sparrows and other 

 birds may be said to tell each other, for instance, where 

 food-supply is forthcoming. They communicate information 

 facts to each other quite as effectually as if they had 

 done so by words or sentences. The dog can tell itself, in its 

 own way, whether its master is in good or bad humour. 



Certain observations of Gelien on bees led him to con- 

 clude that in each hive they have some common sign, of 

 which he speaks as a pass-word. And this conclusion seems 

 to have been adopted by subsequent writers, such as Bur- 

 meistor, who says that the use of such a sign or word 

 'serves to prevent any strange bee from intruding into the 

 hive without being immediately detected and killed ' (Lub- 

 bock). Amatory converse may be very real, though not 

 necessarily by sounds at all. Palpation by the antennae in 

 the ant takes the place of man's speech and writing or 

 printing. The dog may truly be said to possess ' speaking 

 eyes ' (Cobbe), or to speak with its eyes. During the siege of 

 Paris by the Prussians in 1870-1 the street dogs are said to 

 have held deliberative assemblies, in which they spoke by their 

 looks or features and tails, as well as by their throats, 

 mouths and lips (barks and mutterings). Messengers ap- 

 peared to bring news, and the assembly made comments 

 thereon (Gautier). 



