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Show Sign Language Among the Animals, Writer Asserts That Jts Use Is Common, . and Mentions Several Instances . That Have Come Under His Notice Why Do Ducks Bob Their Heads? ' , . "The sign language, once.- .forming such an extensive part of the human vocabulary, and still used with much profit, is not unknown to lower orders of life," said a man who takes much, interest in matters of this sort, "and I have had- occasion in my time to observe .some, rather impressive instances. in-stances. Some of the signs are under standable. Many of them are plain as the words of human Speech, as, for instance, the sa'psucker's love- call, the rabbit's drumming, the head ges-eure ges-eure which accompanies the cluck of the bid hen when she is trying to at-track at-track the attention of her brood to a bit of food she has uncovered in the soil. "But there are many mysterious and altogether ' inexplicable things to be found in this strange realm of signs. Every sign means something. We may be sure of that. It is a part and parcel of sjeech. It conveys a meaning mean-ing definite enough to the creature in the particular order of life. But there are so many signs which are not followed by results which throw light on their meaning that-the" field becomes one for interesting speculative specula-tive inquiry. What does the duck mean, for instance, when simply bob bing the head up and down? It Is not confined to one sex. Drakes and hens resort to the same form of speech. I have seen them ' go through this motion in perfect silence, and when the motion of the head would not bo followed by any other activity, or by sound of any sort which would be an explanation. "They just nod at eaca other. It may be simply a friendly sort ol greeting, a nod of reassurance that! 'all is quiet on the Potomac,' and that there is no fox or other dangerous intruder anywhere around. Or it may be a flirtive sort of speech, the duck's way of smiling and goo-gootng. 1 don't know how this is. I only know that it happens. It may be, of course, that this movement of the head am neck is physically necessary, like the habit of yawning, or the unconscious movement of the limbs of human, beings. But ducks yawn and stretch very much ' after the- fashion of the-human the-human kind. Still the movement to. which I have referred may result from a similar motive. I would like to know. Can any man tell me what a-duck a-duck means by silently nodding to one or more of his companions?" New Orleans Times-Democrat. |