ANIMAL COMMUNICATION 
offense, — but that the act was expressive of any- 
thing more than her present anger, that she was in 
any sense trying to train and instruct her pup, there 
is no proof. 
But with animals that have not been to school to 
man, all ideas of teaching must be rudimentary 
indeed. How could a fox or a wolf instruct its young 
in such matters as traps? Only in the presence of 
the trap, certainly; and then the fear of the trap 
would be communicated to the young through 
natural instinct. Fear, like joy or curiosity, is con- 
tagious among beasts and birds, as it is among men; 
the young fox or wolf would instantly share the emo- 
tion of its parent in the presence of a trap. It is very 
important to the wild creatures that they have a 
quick apprehension of danger, and as a matter of 
fact they have. One wild and suspicious duck in a 
flock will often defeat the best laid plans of the duck- 
hunter. Its suspicions are quickly communicated to 
all its fellows: not through any conscious effort on 
its part to do so, but through the law of natural con- 
tagion above referred to. Where any bird or beast 
is much hunted, fear seems to be in the air, and their 
fellows come to be conscious of the danger which 
they have not experienced. 
What an animal lacks in wit it makes up in cau- 
tion. Fear is a good thing for the wild creatures to 
have in superabundance. It often saves them from 
real danger. But how undiscriminating it is! It is 
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