How Animals Talk 



strictly tribal, I think, like the dialects of Indians, 

 since the call of a coyote is quite different from the 

 call of a timber wolf even when both intend to 

 convey the same meaning. A friend of mine, an 

 excellent mimic, who spent many years in the 

 West, has shot more than a score of coyotes after 

 drawing them within range by sending forth the 

 food-call in winter; but though he knows also the 

 food-call of the timber wolf, he has never once 

 deceived these larger brutes by his imitation of it ; 

 nor has he ever seen a wolf of one species respond 

 to the food or hunting call of another. 



Like most other wild animals, timid or savage, 

 the sensitive wolves all respond, but much more 

 warily than the birds, to almost any inarticulate 

 cry expressive of emotional excitement; just as 

 your dog, who is yesterday's wolf, grows uneasy 

 when you whine in your nose like a distressed 

 puppy, or leaps up, ready to fly out of door or 

 window, when a wild ki-yi breaks out in the dis- 

 tance. Indeed, it is easier to keep a boy from a 

 fire than a dog from a crowd or excitement of any 

 kind ; and the same is true of their wild relatives, 

 though the wariness of the latter keeps them hid- 

 den where you cannot follow their action. The 

 greatest commotion I ever witnessed in a timber- 

 wolf pack was occasioned by the moaning howl 

 of a wounded wolf on a frozen lake in midwinter. 



[26] 



