1897.] Psychology. 463 
When the violinist drew near the cage they snapped at him with their 
aks. 
The other birds in the animal house paid very little attention to the 
music, partly, perhaps, because they were sleepy. Several varieties of 
parrots, herons and smaller birds were tried in turn, but without pro- 
ducing any results worthy of mention. 
Canis latrans Say. Coyote. The last experiment tried was upon a 
den of coyotes in the park. When the playing began all the animals 
were in their holes, but. the first note had hardly been struck when they 
came running out, and raced up and down their den until they had 
located the sounds. When this was done they all squatted in a semi- 
circle about the violinist, he having approached the bars of the den as 
near as possible, and sat in silenge listening to the music. When it 
ceased they ran up to the player and pawed at him through the bars, 
indicating as plainly as possible that they wished to hear more. When 
he began to play again they again silently formed in a semi-circle. 
~ This experiment was tried a number of times, but always with the same 
result. During this time not a sound was uttered by the coyotes, but a 
wolf in the den adjoining howled lustily. Here, as in the other cases, 
soft, sweet music seemed to be better appreciated than loud, harsh music. 
Besides music made up of regular pieces, all sorts of sounds were 
made by the violinist—screeches, piercing notes, imitations of a cat, cow- 
rooster crowing and pig squealing, but these did not seem to have much 
effect. The loud, harsh and piercing notes seemed to affect their ears, 
for they moved them about nervously as though the noise hurt the 
sensitive nerves. To sum up general impressions, slow and soft 
music was received, as a rule, with more signs of pleasure than the 
lively jigs. The females, also, seemed to pay more attention to the 
music, and to be more pleased with it, than were the males. The noc- 
turnal mammals were more interested than were the diurnal birds, 
This was probably due to the fact that the experiment was tried after 
dark, when the animal house was lighted only by electricity. It was a 
curious and interesting fact that the whole performance was conducted 
without any noise other than an occasional grunt from the lions. The 
experiment is worthy of repetition, and should be made at different 
times during the day, as in the early morning and at noon, just before 
and after feeding, etc., to see whether or not these conditions have any 
effect upon the result. The writer is convinced that many interesting 
and valuable facts may be learned by experiments of this character. 
—Frank CoLLINsS Baker. 
