ON NATURAL OR INARTICULATE, AND 



sent day, to add any thing of real importance to what he has already ob- 

 served. 



I have termed this language of nature instinctive ; and that it is entitled 

 to this character is clear ; because, even among birds which possess the 

 widest and most comphcated range of natural language of all animals 

 whatever, whore two individuals of different species are bred up in the same 

 bush, or in the same cage, or hatched and fostered by a female of a third 

 species, each evinces and retains the note that specifically distinguishes 

 the species to which it belongs. In the case of a goldfinch and a chaffinch 

 tbis has been put directly to the proof. And it is by this native tongue, 

 as Mr. Montague has justly observed, and not by the form or colour, that 

 the process of pairing is achieved, and the female induced to select hef 

 paramour.* 



Almost every animal of the three classes just adverted to, exhibits a 

 different tone of voice according to the governing passion of the moment .; 

 but more especially when under the influence of gnef^ fidf-, or joy ; to 

 which, in some instances, we may add anger; but a distinct tone for 

 anger is not so generally traced among animals as it is for the three pre- 

 ceding passions. 



Among quadrupeds, the elephant, horse, and dog appear to possess 

 the greatest portion of a natural tongue. They are all gregarious, parti- 

 cularly the two former. In Asia, the wild elephant, and in the Ukraine, 

 between the Don and the Nieper, the wild horse, pursue one common, 

 plan of political society, in numerous and collected troops ; and are re- 

 gulated by the elders of the tribe among the elephants, and by leaders 

 chosen for this purpose among the horses : and it is by a difference of 

 voice, combined with a difference of gesture, that these superiors give 

 orders, in the course of their travels from place to place, in pursuit of 

 pasture, for the necessary dispositions and arrangements. Both kinds 

 are extremely vigilant and active, and maintain their ranks and brigades 

 with as much regularity and precision as if they were conducted by a 

 human leader. Among the wild horses of the Ukraine, the captain-gene- 

 ral seems to be commonly appointed to his station for about four or five 

 years ; at the expiration of which time, a kind of new election takes 

 place : every one appears to have a right to propose himself for the ofSce, 

 the ex-magistrate not excepted : if no new candidate offer, the latter is 

 re-elected for the same term of time, and if he be opposed a combat suc- 

 ceeds, and the victor is appointed commander-in-chief. 



The conduct pursued by the peaceful and amiable elephant varies in 

 some degree from this of the wild horse ; for in the travels of these ani- 

 mals from place to place, the troops are led on by the eldest of the tribe, 

 thus evincing a kind of patriarchal government : the young and feeble 

 marching in the middle, and the rear being composed of the vigorous and 

 adult.t 



The natural language of the monkey kind, notwithstanding the general 

 resemblance of their structure to that of the human race, appears to be 

 more confined than that of most quadrupeds ; and it is well known, that 

 they never attempt to articulate sounds. Linneus, indeed, seems to have 

 entertained a contrary opinion with respect to the orang-otang, and as- 

 serts that he speaks with a kind of hissing noise. Buffon, however, and 



* Oraithological Diet. Introd. p. xxix. 



t See note to the Author^ Translation of Lucretius, vol. ii. p. 376. 



