OBSERVATIONS ON MAMMALS 257 



simulates the sterner acts of life. It loves to mimic 

 the movements of an animal about to dart upon its 

 prey. It crouches low, it hides itself in every de- 

 pression in the ground, it advances with a slow and 

 stealthy gait ; then comes the flashing eye, the sudden 

 rush, the final spring, the roll and tumble with its 

 playmate, and the round of the game is over. It is all 

 but simple fun and frolic, the exuberant play of youth. 

 Yet in it we see a mirror of its future life and a 

 reflection of the countless cruelties and battles in the 

 past history of its race. 



