How Animals Talk 



bird from my decoys, because a warning impulse 

 fell upon them at a moment when they were in 

 danger, but knew it not; and they obeyed it, as 

 they obey all their impulses, without conscious 

 thought or knowledge of what they are doing or 

 why they are doing it. 



Here is some suggestion of a very modern 

 psychology which is inclined to regard the mind 

 as a thought-receiving rather than as a thought- 

 producing instrument, and with that I have some 

 sympathy; but here is also a rejuvenation of the 

 incorporeal swarm instinct and other fantastic or 

 romantic notions of animals which preclude ob- 

 servation. If the anima of a bird or beast is so 

 constituted that it can receive impulses from a 

 mysterious and unknown source, what is to pre- 

 vent it from receiving such silent impulses from 

 another anima like itself? And why seek an un- 

 seen agent for the warning to my caribou or my 

 plover when one of the creatures saw the danger and 

 was enough moved by it to sound a mental tocsin ? 



The trouble with my friend's explanation, and 

 with all others I have thus far heard or read, is 

 twofold. First, like the swarm-impulse theory, 

 it really explains nothing, but avoids one mystery 

 or difficulty by taking refuge in another. There 

 was a Hindu philosopher who used to teach, after 

 the manner of his school, that the earth stood 



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