EDUCATION 249 



At first the caracal used to bring the ball back to one end of the 

 corridor and chased it as soon as it was rolled along, in a few days 

 learning not to dash up against the wall at the end, if it had not 

 previously captured the elusive prey. But it tired of this, and, 

 having brought back the ball, it would dash half-way down and 

 lurk in one of the doorways where it could not see the ball except 

 for the moment it flashed by, and the game was not to run after 

 it, but to intercept it as it passed. 



Many of the games of young animals are preparations for fighting. 

 Kids, lambs and calves butt and engage in endless mimic combats. 

 Deer stand up on their hind-legs and fight with their fore-legs. 

 Young donkeys, horses and zebras dash at one another, rearing 

 and striking with their heads and fore-legs. All the young carni- 

 vores romp and tussle with each other. Puppies try to seize their 

 friendly enemy by the throat, to roll it over and to hold it down ; 

 the vanquished animal lies on its back and strikes ou twith its fore- 

 paws. Young lions, tigers, cats of all kinds and young bears 

 wrestle and struggle with each other, sometimes biting rather 

 severely. My caracal was extremely fond of fighting in a playful 

 way. He used to bring to me a felt slipper and invite me to take 

 it from him, when a wild romp with teeth and paws followed ; he 

 tried hard to remember not to bite me, but in the excitement of 

 the struggle sometimes forgot or misjudged. His favourite attitude 

 of defence was to lie on his back, holding the slipper in his teeth, 

 and ready to strike out with all his claws ; he soon learned to be 

 a good deal quicker than I was, and if he got into his most favourable 

 position, I could not get the slipper without some risk. But it 

 was only a game, and when it was over, the ears came forward to 

 their normal position, the muscles were relaxed, the claws sheathed, 

 and the little fiend became again a gentle pet. When young carni- 

 vores are playing too roughly with their mother, she teaches them 

 a lesson by cuffing them, but I have never seen her interfering to 

 stop a quarrel in her family, and not infrequently a good deal of 

 damage is done as the excitement of the game passes over into 

 reality. Many years ago, I saw by accident a fatal fight between 

 a young lion and tiger of about the same weight and age. Two 

 tiger cubs and a lion had been brought up together in the same 

 compartment of the Lion House and were a little over two years 

 old, and thoroughly accustomed to rough but friendly play. 

 One Sunday morning, however, when I think I was the only 

 visitor in the Lion House, I heard a sudden commotion and ran to 



