How Animals Talk 



silent, incomprehensible warning, nor was it the 

 last; but it was the only time when I could trace 

 the whole process without break or question from 

 beginning to end. And when, to test the matter 

 to the bottom, I ran the trail of the herd back 

 to where they had been resting, there was no 

 track of man or beast in the surrounding woods 

 to account for their flight. 



One may explain this as a mere coincidence, 

 which is not an explanation; or call it another 

 example of the fact that wild animals are "queer," 

 which is not a fact; but in my own mind every 

 action of the caribou and all the circumstances 

 point to a different conclusion namely, that the 

 fear or warning or impulse of one animal was 

 instantly transferred to others at a distance. I 

 think, also, that the process was not wholly un- 

 conscious or subconscious, but that one animal 

 sent forth his warning and the others acted upon it 

 more or less intelligently. This last is a mere 

 assumption, however, which cannot be proved till 

 we learn to live in an animal's skin. 



It is true that the event often befalls otherwise, 

 since you may jump one animal without alarming 

 others of the same herd ; and it is possible that the 

 degree or quality of the alarm has something to 

 do with its carrying power, as we feel the intense 

 emotion of a friend more quickly than his ordinary 



f!02l 



