THE VOICE OF ANIMALS 249 



wonderfully softened and modulated. A horse is 

 a good example of what the fear of death will do. 

 The ordinary neigh of a horse is very familiar, 

 but in battle when mortally wounded, or having 

 lost its master and being terribly frightened, a 

 horse wUl scream, and those who have heard it, 

 say it is more awful than the cries of pain of a 

 human being. 



Deer and elk often astonish one by the peculiar 

 sounds which they produce. An elk can bellow 

 loudly, especially when fighting; but when mem- 

 bers of a herd call to each other, or when sur- 

 prised by some unusual appearance, they whistle 

 -' — a sudden, sharp whistle, like the tin mouth- 

 pieces with revolving discs, which were at one 

 time so much in evidence. 



The growl of a bear differs greatly under vary- 

 ing circumstances. There is the playful growl, 

 uttered when two individuals are wrestling, and 

 the terrible "sound" — ^no word expresses it — ^to 

 which a bear, cornered and driven to the last 

 extremity, gives utterance — fear, hate, dread, and 

 awful passion mingled and expressed in sound. 

 One can realise the fearful terror which this in- 

 spires only when one has, as I have, stood up to a 

 mad bear, repelling charge after charge, with only 

 an iron pike between one's self and those power- 

 ful fangs and claws. The long-drawn moan of a 

 polar bear on a frosty night is another phase ; this, 

 too, is expressive, but only of those wonderful 



