ANIMAL VOICES 119 



. We have mentioned, in passing rapidly through 

 some of the chief groups of our own British fauna, 

 the muteness which a large number of animals 

 display. How, then, we may ask ourselves, do 

 these creatures communicate one with the other? 

 Have they a language of their own, which is 

 unheard by the human ear, or do they possess 

 means of communication of which we at present 

 are unaware, and cannot comprehend ? 



We know, for example, that many kinds of 

 insects are largely aided by the wonderful struc- 

 ture of their antennae, or feelers, but there are 

 many other animals which do not possess these 

 remarkable organs, which, it would seem, must 

 resort to some other means of communicating 

 with one another that we do not at present under- 

 stand! 



That birds, and several other kinds of wild 

 creatures, do make use of various calls, cries, and 

 signals, those of us who have penetrated into a few 

 of the secrets of Nature can ably testify, but there 

 seems a great poverty of knowledge concerning 

 the vocal powers of some kinds of animals occupy- 

 ing both high and low places in the scale, and to 

 unravel some of these secrets would prove an in- 

 teresting and congenial occupation, to which the 

 attention of all young people, and their elders, too, 

 might be directed, with both pleasure and profit. 



