224 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 30, 1897. 
whistle, alfhough not so loud as when rising in cover, was 
. plainly and distinctly audible. Later still in the summer, 
after the family has grown up, they are in moultina;, and if 
my observations have been correct do not fly or move around 
f ither by day or night so much as at other seasons of the 
I year, but still he has his whistle with him then when iu full 
motion. 
Some twenty years asro, while I was hal?e fishina: during a 
foggy October night off Wood Island Light, in Saco Bay, a 
woodcock oaid us a visit, alighting on the deck of our smack. 
He immediately took flight again, but flew around and 
among our rigging several times, as thoueh loath to leave a 
place that afl'orded a chance to alight. The night was ftill, 
and we could follow his course plainly by his soft, low 
whistle. 
In my hunting this bird during many years hundreds of 
opportunities have presented themselves to hear the whistle 
other than when rising, a few of which 1 will relate. Once 
while hunting with the late Newell Abare, as true a sports- 
man as ever trod a cover, a woodcock was wounded badly 
by being shot in the head ; in fa'it, the under mandible of bis 
bill was broken nearly off at the base and was hanging. Tlie 
bird seemed to lose his reason, and flew around back and 
forth over the cover in larse circles, something like the man- 
ner of a bat. Sometimes he would come almost within the 
length of our gun to us, then he would work off at a dis- 
tance, only to come back again. Curiously we stood and 
watched his singular flight. At all' times when near his 
whistle was distinctly audible. I also noticed that in turning 
sharplv, or when struggline for a greater height, the whistle 
varied by being louder. After viewing for a number of min- 
utes this freaky and singular flighty I again shot, and ended 
the instructive exhibition. 
Many times wounded birds have come to hand that were 
not wing-broken, and frequently have been held by the feet 
and allowed to beat their winge as in flight. Oo all such 
occasions the whistle was all right, and was in good condi- 
tion so long as the wing beats lasted. The same birds have 
also been held firmly by the head and bill, and, like the other 
cases, so long as the wing beats were maintained vigorously 
his whistle was in the best of order. 
When rising in tall cover and in much baste, as is usually 
the case when alarmed, bis wing beats are quick and power- 
ful, and the whistle which we all love so well is clear and 
sharp. After gaining the top of the cover and good headway, 
it softens down to a much lower key, and is heard best on 
still days or when a bird passes near by you. 
Did any hunter ever hear a cock whistle when the notes 
were not in perfect time with his beating wings? 
On one occasion, while hunting with a young friend, at the 
signal for a point I went over to where he stood, and he 
pointed at a cock only a few feet before the dog's nose. He 
wished to catch him alive, and while 1 stood guard in case 
of a flush, he laid down bis gun and dropping on his knees 
plunged suddenly forward, and covered with both hands the 
much surprised woodcock. The many experiments tbat 
were tried, all of which bore a large crop of whistling in the 
best of condition, and all coming from his beating wings, 
would have satisfied any one. I could give many more cases, 
but I think that I have stolen from the leaves of my memory 
suflicient to account for the f aiih that is in me as to how and 
when the woodcock makes the air vibrate with the many 
varied notes of his tremulous whistle. 
Geo. W. Dearboen. 
]ffASSACHlDSETT.S. 
INTERCOMMUNICATION OF ANIMALS. 
I HAVE read with interest the article "by Ernest E. 
Thompson on "Intercommunication of Wolves," in your 
issue of Jan. 23. His statements regarding the odors of 
different animals, and that the odor of the same animal 
differs under different conditions, are all correct, and what 
all intelligent hunters have known for generations. 
Signal Posts. 
In regard to the amount of information wliich animals 
obtain from what he calls "signal posts," many of us would 
differ. These so-called "signal posts" are some promi- 
nent object, either a rock, bush, stump or moimd near a 
game trail, or if in winter on the ice or shore of a pond or 
stream. No doubt wolves, foxes, dogs and other animals 
can tell by the scent where animals of their own species 
have been, whether they were friends or foes; of what eeJc 
and whether searching for a mate; but I doubt if they caii 
tell much more by the scent left on these "signal posts." If 
they can tell where they came from and which way they 
were traveling, it is by smelling of the track and not by the 
ecent left on the post. Of course the animal last at the 
post left his track, and, as Mr. Thompson states, any animal 
can tell which way a track leads. Going to the post, he 
finds the track, and gets his idea of whence the animal 
came and where he is going from the track and not from 
the scent on the post. 
Animals do not find places entirely by scent, although 
in many cases the scent helps them locate the exact place 
more easily. Ir proof of this, set up a bush which you 
know to be perfectly clean on the ice near where foxes 
travel. The first fox which passes will go to it, after that 
any other fox will follow, but the first fox will go by sight 
because he expects to find that others have been there. 
Wolves do the same, and many a one has found the poison 
and met his death by investigating a "sign post" where no 
wolves had never been before. 
All animals know where animals of their own kind will 
travel, and one who has hunted any animal a long time 
will get so that he in a measure partakes of the instinct of 
the animal he hunts, and can tell very nearly where it 
will travel and where to look for signs of it. Any good 
otter hunter canoeing on a strange stream can at once 
point out many places where otter slides will be found be- 
fore he lands, and on lakes or ponds can locate them when 
long distances away. Any good mink hunter can tell you 
places where every mink will surely visit, even on streams 
he has never seen before. Those who hunt deer or foxes 
with hounds know that the runway where they ran fifty 
years ago, if left just as it formerly was, is the place where 
they will run to-day. I alwaj's judge that animals know 
as much about their own concerns as men do; and that 
what a man can find without scent an animal can. 
Bears leave signs by biting prominent trees, usually near 
old roads or game trails. Every bear which passes leaA^es 
his mark, I know that they can tell where a bear has 
lately passed and how high he could reach (unless they 
cheat by standing on a log, as I have seen done), but I 
doubt if they find out more except by following the track. 
Squirrels and some animals of the cat kipd leaye thpir 
signs by scratching trees or logs of rotten wood. Fisher 
and marten will leave sign on prominent logs and rocks, 
but I believe that all this communication only tells that 
the animal has been there, with perhaps the sex and con- 
dition. The real communication is in an entirely different 
way, and one to us as yet unknown. 
Animals, Traps and Trappers. 
Mr. Thompson speaks of wolves learning about traps 
and poison, and teaching others. This is correct. Most 
animals (and in this term I mean to include not only 
beasts, but birds, fishes, reptiles and also insects) learn to 
know and shun, and teach others to shun danger. There 
are exceptions, as in the case of Canada and Franklin's 
grouse, but this is the . general rule. The bear of to-day 
can only in rare instances be caught in the same way in 
which he could be fifty years ago in places where he has 
been trapped. For many years he has known enough to 
tear down the sides of the house around the steel trap, and 
in some cases to take hold of the clay and haul the trap 
out .of the house. A bear which is well educated can dis- 
count any wolf ever born in the tricks he can teach a 
trapper. Many can now be taken only by setting the 
traps in water with scent, as is practiced in setting for 
foxes. Most fishers know enough to trip a log trap and 
steal the bait. Any one who tries to trap the common 
house rat will find that, although he may have a college 
education, he has still a good many things to learn. Fish 
learn to avoid nets. In Solomon's days he found that it 
was "in vain to set the net in the sight of any bird." 
Where mosquitoes are persistently hunted they learn to 
alight on dark objects to escape being seen. 
Where telegraph lines have been long used, birds have 
learned to avoid them. As "dead men tell no tales," it is- 
reasonable to suppose that all kinds of animated life 
(unless we except men) learn by the experience of others. 
The young ruffed grouse begins life where his parents left 
off. "City nighthawks learn to use gravel roofs, and chim- 
ney swafts to use chimneys instead of hollow trees. But all 
these are only examples of learning from or communica- 
tion with each other by scent, example or teaching. 
Migrations of Bears. 
There are' ways of communication which are far more 
wonderful. Whjle birds migrate at regular seasons, and 
from well-known cause.?, in their usual spring and fall mi- 
grations many animals, and some birds, tuigrate at itregu- 
lar intervals o.ver great extents of country and from no 
known cause. Take" our black bears for an "example. The 
first notice of one of these migrations is to be found in a 
book by John Josselyn, entitled "New England Rarities 
Discovered," published in 1673. In this he says.(I liave to 
quote from memorv. not having the book at hand) that 
where he lived at York, Me., the bears sometimes trav- 
eled in great companies and crossed the river (probably 
the Piscataqua River) in large numbers. 
The next migration of bears of which I have any sure 
proof was witnessed by my father some seventy years ago. 
Early in September a very large number of bears came to 
the east bank of the Penobscot River, in the town of Or- 
rington^ some seven miles belo\V Bangoh The tiight tv^as 
so dark that they could not be seen, but they could be 
beard calling to and answering each other, till just low 
water, when they took the water and landed on the 
Hampden side. In the morning it was found by the 
muddy tracks that a large number had crossed. My father 
saw three tracks across a single plank in a shipyard. Al- 
though a large body of men searched all day, none were 
seen, as they had kept straight on, traveling west. 
Although my father, being a fur buyer, would have been 
likely to have "learned if there had been other migrations, 
we heard of none till about thirty years ago, when an old 
hunting friend of mine, Mr. Henry Clapp, who is quoted 
in the article oh bears in Cassino's "Standard Natural His- 
tory," told me on his return from a hunt that he set ciut 
his' traps in the fall, but found few bears till on going out 
one morning in November, after it had snowed the night 
before, it looked as if the country was full of bears. He 
counted the tracks of nine different bears, all going up one 
narrow valley. They kept coming for some days, all trav 
eling from east to west, arid not njakihi? any stop till it 
came time to den. fie had his ttaps out very early this n ext 
spring, but as soon as those nedr by cable out of th^ dteiis 
they at once resumed theil- niardh westward. Others followed 
from the east fol- a few days, and then there were no bears 
left in the county. If in either case any of these bears 
ever returned, it was in such scattered parties that no one 
was ever aware of it. Although I have bought bear skins 
by the thousand, and have always inquired of all the hunt- 
ers, I have never known of any general migration since, 
although bears, like other animals, often move over small 
spaces of country in search of food. In both of these cases 
lack of food did "not seem to be the reason for moving. 
Migrations of Other Animals. 
When T was a small boy, or over fifty years ago, the car- 
ibou were often seetl in di-oves of fifty or more oh Chemo 
Bog, only some fourteen miles east of Bangor. In a few 
years they all left, and not a caribou was left in Maine, 
For a good many years not a single one was known to be 
taken. In the lUlls of 1857, '58 and '59 I spent months in 
traveling over a large part of northern Maine, but never 
saw a caribou track, nor heard of one beine seen. I heard 
of a few caribou being taken in 1860 and '61, and in a few 
years they became quite plenty. When they migrated it 
was said that they went east. It is quite certain that those 
coming back in 1860 and '61 came either from the north or 
northwest. 
Lynx were so abundant that several hundred skins were 
sold in this market every year till about the last of the war, 
when in a short time all had left, so that not a single skin 
was offered for several years. Then they returned in such 
numbers that within a few years after the first came I was 
buying some 20O yearly. Red squirrels also frequently 
emigrate from east to west. I once in September count- 
ed ten red squirrels in the course of half a day's paddling, 
which were either swimming or out on leaning maples, and 
just entering the water, and which were all going west. I 
have also known foxes and rabbits, fisher and marten, 
almost entirely to leave a large tract of country in a veiy 
shoi't time. In most or all of these cases there was no lack 
of food. T have known foxes in great numbers to appear 
suddenly. I once bought over 600, all taken within less 
than six months on a space less than ten miles by twenty. 
One farmer took sixty-five near his home. When the sea- 
son closed they were said to be as plenty as ever. 
In the same way some kinds of birds, notably owls, will all 
at once leave a large extent of country as if by a precon- 
certed arrangement, and all go in one direction. Some years 
the snowy owls comedown from the north in great numbers 
all along the line from Maine to Dakota. In other years 
the hawk owls come, and a few years ago we had a great 
flight of the great gray owls, and a bird which had been 
so rare that previously I know of the record of but a single 
one ever being taken in Maine suddenly became abun- 
dant. The fact that the snowy and great gray owls, which 
feed on the same food, did not come in the same year, 
would indicate that food was not what they emigrated for, 
and in dissecting* at least twenty snowy owls I found that 
all were in good condition, I have also known ruffed 
grouse and Canada grouse to migrate in large numbers, 
and as they subsist on entirely different kinds of food, and 
both can get all they need anywhere in the State, the lack 
of food certainly was not the cause of their coming. _ 
I could also cite numerous instances of fish and insects, 
like locusts, grasshoppers, ants, caterpillars and others, all 
moved by a common impulse, moving over great distancea 
and all going in the same direction. 
These facts prove that animals of all kinds do by some 
means communicate over immense distances both of land 
and sea, and where there is no possibility that any indi- 
vidual can ever see others of its kind or see any sign to 
indicate that such a movement was contemplated. This is 
not only the case in America, but in all other countries, of 
which the migrations of lemralngs in Europe is a striking 
example. 
Warnings of Dahgef. 
But besides this there is a communicating- to inoVe i<3 
escape danger or to go to new breeding grounds. Dr. Liv-- 
ingstone, M'hom every one who has read his writings will 
acknowledge both a close and scientific observer, and 
whose statements are reliable, says of antelojie: "Have they 
a guardian spirit over them? I have repeatedly observed 
when I approached a herd lying beyond an ant hill with a 
tree on it, and viewed them with the greatest Caution, they 
very soon showed symptoms of uneasiness. They did nof 
snuff danger in the wind, for I was to the leeward Of th&taj 
but the almost invariable apprehension of danger which 
arose, while unconscious of tbe direction in which it Ifty^ 
made me wonder whether each had what the ancient 
physicians thought we all possessed— -an archon, or pre-- 
siding spirit.'' Those -vidio have watched wild ducks much 
must have noticed the same thing. Whole flocks will be.* 
gin to be uneasy and quit feeding wheh there is no chancel 
to either see, hear or smell the danger. 
There is positive proof that when a wh^le has heed 
struck every whale wdthin the range of a spy-glass 1*^111 at 
once turn flukes, being in some way notified of danger iri 
a second's time over a great extent of water. I have often 
seen every porpoise in sight go down as if by one motion 
when one was killed, and all" those which were under 
water when they rose, only gave a single short, sharp pufl 
instead of the three slow long puffs which they usually 
give. 
It is a matter of record that plover— and in some plaCeg 
ducka— 'rt'hen thev have been shot at for yeafs at points 
where they usually passed in theit migratione, have 
changed their flight lines and made new paths through 
the air, which every flock followed. It is also well known 
that sperm whales, from being hunted, left therf old 
grounds and sought new and remote places. Porgieg also 
entirely left the Maine coast for years on account of being 
netted so persistently. Dr. Nansen tells us that on his 
voyage in a sealer to the south of Greenland the herds of 
seals all lay on the outer edge of the pack to escape the 
ice hears; but when he returned some years later to make 
his trip of exploration across Greenland, and was working 
his way in boats throush the pack to land on the south 
fend of Greenland, he found that the seals, from being 
hunted, had changed their grounds and were now on the 
inner fedgfe bf the i^ack, hating concluded that the bears 
were less dangerous than meh; • . • j 
Now in all the cases cited these khimals ipust haVfe itt 
some way communicated with others not ohljr thaf; theM 
was danger to be avoided, but must have made e^ch_ other 
understand the exact direction to be taken to avoid it, 
lfanyon,e needs further proof that animals can com- 
rhuhicate about tueeting at a cettain point at a long distance 
off which thev have never efeen, I will quote ftom A, Conalt . 
Doyle on page 464 of McClure's for March, 1897 (italic^ 
mine): "For breeding purposes the seals all come togfethe*' 
at a mriable spot, which is evidently prmrranffed among 
them, and as this place may be anywhere within many 
hundreds of miles of floating ice, it is no easy matter for 
the ^sher to find it. The means by \Vhich he sets about it 
are simple, but ingenious,. As the ship makes its Wat 
through the loose ice streams, a school of seals is observed 
traveling through the water. Their direction is carefully 
taken by compass, and marked on the chart. An hour 
afterward perhaps another school is seen. This also is 
marked. When these bearings have been taken several 
times, the various lihea upon the chart are prolonged until 
they intersect. At this point, or heat it, it is likely that 
the main pack of the seals will be found," 
Now here is what seems to be positive proof of great 
numbers of animals, scattered over vast expanses, all being 
moved to meet at a certain well-understood point, which 
very few if any of them have ever seen. As it is an im- 
possibility that any one of this vast multitude could a year 
beforehand have been notified by any "walking delegate" 
of the time and place of meeting, and certainly there can 
be no landmarks or "sign posts'' in all this wilderness of 
moving ice to guide those coming from different directions 
to a given point, the only other reasonable explanation 
seems to be that in some way they are influenced by some 
kind of mental telegraphy, to which our nearest approach 
at present is telegraphing without a wire. If there is such 
an influence exerted in any way, then another mystery ig 
as to whence it proceeds. Solomon says: "The locusta 
have no king, yet they go forth in bands." All these vari^ 
ous kinds of animal life seem to have no leaders, but they 
all move at once in onje direction, as if acting under the in- 
fluence of one mind. I have stated the simple facts anrt 
leave it for others to theorize. M. Hardy. 
Maine. 
The FoHOBST AND STREAM 18 put to presR each week oh Tmsdo,., 
CQi-)-espondence intended for publication should reach us at iha 
latest by Monday, and as much earlier as practiaMe. 
