ANIMAL COMMUNICATION 
to be seriously engaged in the worthy task of expos- 
ing “false natural history.” 
Now the singing of birds, the crowing of cocks, 
the drumming of grouse, are secondary sexual char- 
acteristics. They are not necessary to the lives of the 
creatures, and are probably more influenced by imi- 
tation than are the more important instincts of self- 
preservation and reproduction. Yet the testimony is 
overwhelming that birds will sing and roosters crow 
and turkeys gobble, though they have never heard 
these sounds; and, no doubt, the grouse and the 
woodpeckers drum from promptings of the same 
sexual instinct. 
I do not wish to accuse “ Hermit” of willfully per- 
verting the facts of natural history. He is one of 
those persons who read their own fancies into what- 
ever they look upon. He is incapable of disinterested 
observation, which means he is incapable of observa- 
tion at all in the true sense. There are no animals 
that signal to each other with their ears. The move- 
ments of the ears follow the movements of the eye. 
When an animal’s attention is directed to any ob- 
ject or sound, its ears point forward; when its atten- 
tion is relaxed, the ears fall. But with the cat tribe 
the ears are habitually erect, as those of the horse 
are usually relaxed. ‘They depress them and revert 
them, as do many other animals, when angered or 
afraid. 
Certain things in animal life lead me to suspect 
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