Cries of the Day and Night 



things, but that their ordinary cries merely pro- 

 ject an emotion or excitement in such a way that 

 it stirs a similar emotion in other birds or beasts 

 of the same species; just as the sound of hearty 

 laughter invariably stirs the feeling of mirth in 

 men who hear it, or any inarticulate cry of fear 

 sets human feet in motion toward the cry if the 

 hearer be brave, or away from it if he be of cow- 

 ardly disposition. Yet even among men, who by 

 civilization have lost some of their natural virtues, 

 the primal impulse still lives. Like the wolf or the 

 raccoon, the man's first impulse is to rush to his 

 distressed or excited fellows. If he turns and runs 

 the other way, it means simply that his artificial 

 habit or training has deadened his natural instincts. 



In speaking of "man" here I refer to the genus 

 homo, not to the male specimen thereof. Among 

 brutes most of the natural instincts are the same 

 in both sexes; they vary in degree, not in kind, 

 and the instincts of the female are commonly the 

 stronger or keener. Yet I have noticed, or think 

 I have noticed, this difference: when a cry of 

 distress is uttered in the woods, the first bird or 

 beast to appear is almost always a female ; but the 

 male is quicker on his toes at a battle-yell or a 

 senseless clamor. 



This last is a personal impression, and cannot 

 well be verified. The only record I have which 



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