5464 Reason and Instinct. 



conveying or imparting their ideas ? In the case of the fire the dogs 

 succeed in making their meaning evident, — in signifying their ideas, — 

 in conveying the intelligence they wished to impart. Was it not the 

 same with the dog whose canine companion had got himself into such 

 an unpleasant " fix" in the rabbit-burrow? — with him whose master 

 lay, drunk and senseless, in the very track of the rapidly-advancing 

 coach ? — with the terrier who coaxed the mentally " slower" but 

 physically faster greyhound into the pleasures of a stolen course ? 



And this brings me to a part of our reasonings which requires 

 somewhat more detailed notice and elaboration, and which I desire to 

 preface by the simple statement that the entirely and ascertained suc- 

 cessful communication of ideas, very various in their nature and origin, 

 by various animals, in a state of domestication, to their fellows, or to 

 animals of a different tribe from themselves, is a fact which rests upon 

 a great number of authentic observations. But, without dwelling 

 upon this at present, I wish to state my firm belief that animals in 

 general have means of intercommunication, that they are able to com- 

 municate their ideas to one another, and that some at least of those 

 means and that ability consist in uttered sounds. I do not simply 

 mean that the note or action of alarm of one species of bird or beast 

 is intelligible, to the individuals of various species of both those fami- 

 lies who may be within scope of hearing or observation, as well as to 

 its own more immediate fellows; but that, besides this, animals of the 

 same species, or of different species, but adopting similar habits and 

 places of resort, communicate successfully and instantaneously to their 

 companions other ideas beside those of apprehension or alarm. How 

 often have I seen a covey of fifteen or eighteen partridges rise as one 

 bird ;* a flock of eighty or a hundred golden plover take wing at the 

 same instant, fly — every bird of them — in the same direction, turn at 

 the same instant, rise to a considerable height all together, wheel 

 round their disturber again and again with one consent, lower their 

 flight as instantaneously, and finally all settle on the spot they seem, by 

 their manner, to choose, or to adopt as chosen by some leader, without 

 one doubtful or dissentient bird among them. Not long since I ob- 

 served all these particulars in the flight of a large flock of golden 

 plover. Among them I detected one gray plover. He was as much 



* Ten days since I marked a covey on the edge of a steep bank of no great height : 

 I came upon them quietly, and saw one bird feeding above the rest, who were out of 

 sight on the bank below, for some seconds before it saw me. After a pause I advanced 

 a step ; it raised its head, saw me, and in an instant was on the wing, but not perceptibly 

 before the rest, most of whom certainly did not see me at all before taking wing. 



