THE PLAY OF ANIMALS 



his astonished master, and wagged his tail. Alix 

 imagined that his dog had thought out the short- 

 cut ; it is much more likely that it was simply 

 play done for fun. 



Play of Experiment 



Let us pass to the other original expression 

 of the play-instinct, what we may call experimenting 

 when animals test things, often pulling them to 

 pieces ; or test themselves, often performing 

 interesting feats ; or test their neighbours, finding 

 out how they will answer back. For the endless 

 task of finding out about the world has its play- 

 form which is one of the roots of science. 



Speaking of his young goats, Mr. Hamerton says : 

 " If there is a basket in the place which will hold 

 one of them, and no more, the others will watch 

 him with great interest, and as soon as he jumps 

 out (which he is never very long in doing) the others 

 inevitably jump in and out again by turns. A game 

 of this kind will last till one of the kids has a new 

 suggestion to make." One day it was the fashion 

 among the kids to carry a little sprig of green be- 

 tween the lips ; another day they tried to upset 

 the artist by getting under his seat ; from that they 

 passed to experimenting with the big dog, till " he 

 could stand it no longer and rushed out of the place, 

 not trusting himself to refrain from using his mighty 

 jaws, which would have crushed a kid's head like 

 a nutshell." 



In regard to her Capuchin monkey, Miss Romanes 

 wrote : " He is very fond of upsetting things, 



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