14 



SUMMER 



holds any such prominent place as with the dog and 

 the keen-witted, intelligent otter. To catch these 

 lower animals at play is a rare experience. One of 

 our naturalists describes the game of "follow my 

 leader, " as he watched it played by a school of min- 

 nows a most unusual record, but not at all hard to 

 believe, for I saw recently, from the bridge in the 

 Boston Public Garden, a school of goldfish playing 

 at something very much like it. 



This naturalist was lying stretched out upon an old 

 bridge, watching the minnows through a large crack 

 between the planks, when he saw one leap out of the 

 water over a small twig floating at the surface. In- 

 stantly another minnow broke the water and flipped 



over the twig, followed by another and another, the 

 whole school, as so many sheep, or so many children, 

 following the leader over the twig. 



The love of play seems to be one of the elemental 

 needs of all life above the plants, and the games of 



