ANIMAL COMMUNICATION 
One of my critics has accused me of measuring all 
things by the standard of my little farm — of think- 
ing that what is not true of animal life there is not 
true anywhere. Unfortunately my farm is small — 
hardly a score of acres — and its animal life very 
limited. Ihave never seen even a porcupine upon it; 
but I have a hill where one might roll down, should 
one ever come my way and be in the mood for that 
kind of play.! I have a few possums, a woodchuck 
or two, an occasional skunk, some red squirrels and 
rabbits, and many kinds of song-birds. Foxes oc- 
casionally cross my acres; and once, at least, I saw 
a bald eagle devouring a fish in one of my apple- 
trees. Wild ducks, geese, and swans in spring and 
fall pass across the sky above me. Quail and grouse 
invade my premises, and of crows I have, at least in 
bird-nesting time, too many. 
But I have a few times climbed over my pasture 
wall and wandered into distant fields. Once upon 
a time I was a traveler in Asia for the space of two 
hours — an experience that ought to have yielded 
me some startling discoveries, but did not. Indeed, 
the wider I have traveled and observed nature, the 
more I am convinced that the wild creatures behave 
just about the same in all parts of the country; that 
is, under similar conditions. What one observes truly 
about bird or beast upon his farm of ten acres, he 
will not have to unlearn, travel as wide or as far as 
1 See comment on the story here alluded to on page 244, 
101 
