10 SUMMER 



_ 

 In all their games of rivalry the animals are seri- 



' ous as humans, and, forgetting the fun, often fall to 

 \ fighting a sad case, indeed. But brutes are brutes. V 

 We cannot expect anything better of the animals. 

 Only this morning the whole flock of chickens in 

 / the hen-yard started suddenly on the wild flap to see 

 which would beat to the back fence and wound up on 

 the " line " in a free fight, two of the cockerels tearing 

 the feathers from each other in a desperate set-to. 



You have seen puppies fall out in the same human 

 fashion, and kittens also, and older folk as well. I 

 have seen a game of wood-tag among friendly gray 

 squirrels come to a finish in a fight. As the crows 

 pass over during the winter afternoon, you will notice 

 their play racing each other through the air, diving, 

 swooping, cawing in their fun, when suddenly some 

 one's temper snaps, and there is a mix-up in the air. 



They can get angry, but they cannot laugh. I jjj 

 once saw what I thought was a twinkle of merri- 

 ment, however, in an elephant's eye. It was at the \-\ 

 v circus several years ago. The keeper had just set down 

 ^ for one of the elephants a bucket of water which a per- 

 ; spiring youth had brought in. The big beast sucked 

 I it quietly up, the whole of it, swung gently around ; 



as if to thank the perspiring boy, then soused him, 

 the whole bucketful! Everybody roared, and one of 

 the other elephants joined in with trumpetings, so 

 huge and jolly was the joke. 



The elephant who played the trick looked solemn 



