learn to
associate extreme alarm with his presence from merely accompanying its
mother, if the latter feels such alarm. I should not regard this as
schooling by the parent any more than I should so regard the instant
flight of twenty antelope who had not seen a hunter, because the
twenty-first has seen him and has instantly run. Sometimes a deer or
an antelope will deliberately give an alarm-cry at sight of something
strange. This cry at once puts every deer or antelope on the alert;
but they will be just as much on the alert if they witness nothing but
an exhibition of fright and flight on the part of the first deer or
antelope, without there being any conscious effort on its part to
express alarm.

"Moreover, I am inclined to think that on certain occasions, rare
though they may be, there is a conscious effort at teaching. I have
myself known of one setter dog which would thrash its puppy soundly if
the latter carelessly or stupidly flushed a bird. Something similar
may occur in the wild state among such intelligent beasts as wolves
and foxes. Indeed, I have some reason to believe that with both of
these animals it does occur--that is, that there is conscious as well
as unconscious teaching of the young in such matters as traps."

Probably the President and I differ more in the meaning we attach to
the same words than in anything else. In a subsequent letter he says:
"I think the chief difference between you and me in the matter is one
of terminology. When I speak of unconscious teaching, I really mean
simply acting in a manner which arouses imitation."

Imitation is no doubt the key to the whole matter. The animals
unconsciously teach their young by their example, and in no other way.
But I must leave the discussion of this subject for another chapter.

VI

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

The notion that animals consciously train and educate their young has
been held only tentatively by European writers on natural history.
Darwin 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 abandoned it later, and fell back upon instinct or
inherited habit. Some of the German writers, such as Brehm, Buechner,
and the Muellers, seem to have held to the notion more decidedly. But
Professor Groos had not yet opened their eyes to the significance of
the play of animals. The writ