336 INTELLIGIBILITY OF EACH OTHER'S LANGUAGE. 



presence of danger or booty ' by the different intensity or 

 qualities of the odours given off.' 



In some cases a species or certain individuals thereof 

 learn the language, or to understand the language, of other 

 species, genera, or groups. 



The rapidity of the acquisition of the language of other 

 species varies greatly, as does also necessarily facility of 

 acquisition. Thus of a hen that, as foster mother, brought 

 up, or tried to bring up, three orphaned ferrets, Romanes 

 says : e It took the hen one day to learn the meaning of their 

 cries of distress.' But he could ' not say that the young 

 ferrets ever seemed to learn the meaning of the hen's 

 clucking.' 



The acquisition of the language of other species is not 

 confined to, though it is best illustrated by, the imitation of 

 voice-sounds. It includes the whole phenomena of mimicry 

 -of 



1. Man's voice, speech, tone, talk, whistle, words. 



2. The songs of a considerable number of birds. 



3. The calls or cries of various animals, made use of for 

 the purposes of decoy or deception. 



The mocking-bird successfully imitates the hen's call, 

 and the cat's mew (Houzeau). The starling mimics man's 

 voice, the cries of certain quadrupeds, and the song of 

 various birds. The spotted hysena counterfeits the bleat 

 of the lamb. 



Acquired songs consist frequently of combinations of the 

 notes of different species, forming a medley therefrom. How- 

 ever, in acquiring the notes or songs of other birds, it 

 occasionally happens that a species or individual loses its 

 own for instance, the redbreast (Houzeau). 



From intimacy of association with them, the dog soon 

 comes to understand the language of several different genera 

 and species of other animals. For instance, it learns the 

 signification of various bird-calls, including those of poultry, 

 and takes advantage of this knowledge ; its action or be- 

 haviour is in accordance with the nature and significance of 

 each cry or call (Houzeau). 



The language of blandishment or command of the collie 



