VI 



ANIMAL COMMUNICATION 



THE notion that animals consciously train and 

 educate their young has been held only tenta- 

 tively by European writers on natural history. Dar- 

 win does not seem to have been of this opinion at 

 all. Wallace shared it at one time in regard to the 

 birds, — their songs and nest-building, — but aban- 

 doned it later, and fell back upon instinct or in- 

 herited habit. Some of the German writers, such 

 as Brehm, Biichner, and the Miillers, seem to have 

 held to the notion more decidedly. But Professor 

 Groos had not yet opened their eyes to the signifi- 

 cance of the play of animals. The writers mentioned 

 undoubtedly read the instinctive play of animals as 

 an attempt on the part of the parents to teach their 

 young. 



That the examples of the parents in many ways 

 stimulate the imitative instincts of the young is quite 

 certain, but that the parents in any sense aim at 

 instruction is an idea no longer held by writers on 

 animal psychology. 



Of course it all depends upon what we mean by 

 teaching. Do we mean the communication of know- 

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