Can dumb animals talk? It is true that they are not able to use words like ours, but most of them can talk in their own way.
When the cat is happy and pleased, how does she show it? She purrs; and this is her way of saying, "I am quite happy now. "If she is unhappy, or in pain, or hungry, she mews. If she is angry, she sets up her back and her fur, moves her tail from side to side, and spits. If teased, she growls and puts back her ears. If she is treated in a way she does not like, up goes her tail straight in the air, and she marches out of the room.
If your dog is pleased, he puts back his ears, wags his tail, and seems to smile. If he is angry, he growls, shows his teeth, puts up his tail and the hair along his back and neck, walks stiffly, and makes himself look very fierce. This is the dog"s way of saying, " I am vexed; I have a mind to bite you. "My dog Dash sometimes bites my hand in play, often snarling at the same time. If he bites too hard, and I say, "Gently, Dash, " he goes on biting, but answers me by wagging his tail, as if to say, " Never mind; I don"t mean to hurt; it isall fun. "
When a hen sees a dog coming near her chickens, have you not noticed how she spreads her wings, raises her tail, ruffles her feathers, and dashes at the dog? This is her way of saying, " Be off, or I shall peck you with my hard beak. "If she sees a hawk, she makes a strange noise, and her chickens at once run away and hide themselves. They understand their mother to say, " Quick, get out of sight, dears! There is danger near. "When she finds a bit of nice food, she makes another kind of noise. The chicks know quite well what it means, and run at once with all their might to share the sweet morsel their mother has found for them.
If you have watched horses or cows, you will have noticed the ways in which they talk to their mates or to their young. I think the strangest thing of all is the way horses will put their heads together and, without a sound, agree to some plan, on which they then begin to act. Have you ever noticed, when two ants meet, how they talk to each other with their feelers?
In such ways as these, dumb animals make themselves understood almost as well as if they had the gift of speech. They tell their feelings to one another by acts and by sounds, just as we do by words.
Author.-The author is not known.
General Notes.-How does the cat talk when she is happy? When she is unhappy? How does the dog talk? Tell all the ways in which the hen makes herself understood--the horse, the cow, the sheep, the turkey, the wild duck.