THE EFFECTS OF MUSICAL SOUNDS ON ANIMALS. 1?3 



informs us that, when he was departing on a warlike expedition 

 from Lake Muggaby, he had convincing proofs that the Hippo- 

 potami are sensibly affected by musical sound : — " As the expe- 

 dition passed along the banks of the lake at sunrise," says he, 

 " these uncouth and stupendous animals followed the drums the 

 whole length of the water, sometimes approaching so close to the 

 shore that the spray they spouted from their mouths reached 

 the persons who were passing along the banks. I counted fifteen, 

 at one time, sporting on the surface of the water." 



Alligator. — "When the late Dr. Stimpson and I were in 

 Florida in 1869, some person gave him a young Alligator. The 

 specimen was about two and a half feet from tip of snout to tip 

 of tail. To secure the beast we made a halter of a piece of bed- 

 cord, say three feet long, tying one end around its neck and the 

 other to the leg of the table in the room we slept in. While 

 sitting before a pitch-pine fire in the evening, discussing the 

 events of the day, by way of variety we serenaded that Alligator 

 with vocal performances of a high order. Our musical efforts 

 produced, so far as we could perceive, not the slightest effect ; the 

 poor brute knew that he was tied, and that it would be useless to 

 try and get away." 



From the gigantic and uncouth let us return to the more 

 attractive and familiar animals belonging to certain groups of the 

 Kodentia, some of which are almost domestic through the 

 proximity of their habitat to that of man. 



Squirrels. — In Dr. Merriam's charming volume [' The Mam- 

 mals of the Adirondack Eegion,' 1884], in treating of the Grey 

 squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis leucotis, he says : — " They were 

 extremely fond of music (in the most comprehensive sense of 

 the term), and it affected them in a peculiar manner. Some 

 were not only fascinated, but actually spellbound by the music- 

 box or guitar. And one particularly weak-minded individual was 

 so unrefined in his taste that if I advanced slowly, whistling 

 * Just before the Battle, Mother,' in as pathetic tones as I could 

 muster for the occasion, he would permit me even to stroke his 

 back, sometimes expressing his pleasure by making a low purring 

 sound. This was a Grey, and I several times approached and 

 stroked him as above described. I once succeeded in getting 

 near enough to a Black to touch him, whereupon he instantly 

 came to his senses and fled. When listening to music they all 



