2 1 4 DARWINIANISM. 



height, each bird wheeling round and round without 

 closing its wings, in the most graceful evolutions clearly 

 performed for the mere pleasure of the exercise." 

 Condors, he says again (p. 183)," may oftentimes be seen 

 at a great height, soaring over a certain spot in the most 

 graceful circles ; on some occasions I am sure that they 

 do this only for pleasure." This, too, is strikingly in 

 point (p. 199) : " One day I observed a cormorant playing 

 with a fish which it had caught : eight times successively 

 the bird let its prey go, then dived after it, and although 

 in deep water, brought it each time to the surface " (what 

 indolent repletion, what lazy satiety !) 



Mr. Darwin (pp. 217 and 162) draws attention to the 

 albatross. Once he says, " The storm raged with its full 

 fury, but, whilst the ship laboured heavily, the albatross 

 glided with its expanded wings right up the wind ; " and 

 again : " It has always been a mystery to me on what the 

 albatross, which lives far from the shore, can subsist. I 

 presume that it is able to fast long." The chionis alba is 

 another bird spoken of (p. 94) by Mr. Darwin, which, too, 

 seems capable of being content with short commons at 

 times ; for, although " it feeds on seaweed and shells on 

 the tidal rocks, yet, from some unaccountable habit, it is 

 frequently met with far out at sea." There is little 'sign 

 of a struggle for life in such cases. These animals have 

 evidently no need to struggle: they seem indifferent 

 about their food, and can remove themselves carelessly 

 from any supplies of it. 



But, as we have seen sport, play positively as of 

 children before the door in the animal creation, on the 

 authority of others, so we have no less such sport and 

 play on the authority of Mr. Darwin. The bizcacha, he 

 tells us, picks up miscellaneous articles it finds lying on 

 the ground and groups them around the mouth of its 

 burrow. So, " a gentleman, when he was riding on a dark 



