How Animals Talk 



of his victim; but he struck like a flash when I 

 reached down for him carelessly. "Take that! 

 and that ! and remember me !" he said, driving his 

 weapons up with astonishing force, a force that 

 kills or paralyzes his game at the first grip. Four 

 of his needle-pointed talons went to the bone, and 

 the others were well buried in the flesh of my arm. 

 The old viking had been some time with his 

 ancestors before I pried him loose. 



As for the sense of smell, on which most animals 

 depend for accurate information, I have tried 

 numerous experiments with deer, moose, bear and 

 other creatures to learn how far they can wind a 

 man, and how their powers compare one with 

 another. There is no definite answer to the prob- 

 lem, so baffling are the conditions of observing 

 these shy beasts; but you are in for some sur- 

 prises, at least, when you attempt to solve it in 

 the open. You will learn, for example, that when 

 a gale is blowing the animals are more at sea 

 than in a dead calm; or that in a gusty wind 

 you can approach them about as easily from one 

 side as from another. Such a wind rolls and 

 eddies violently, rebounding from every hill or 

 point or shore in such erratic fashion that the 

 animals have no means of locating a danger when 

 they catch a fleeting sniff of it. It is for this 

 reason, undoubtedly, that all game is uncommonly 



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