106 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



longs to their kind. The little ones, trying to do the 

 same things, awkwardly imitated their movements." 

 Such actions are not rare in the animal world, where 

 play and instruction are united, though in this case, with 

 Brehm, too much is made of the analogy to human con- 

 duct.* 



I class the learning to swim of aquatic birds among 

 play movements. Here, too, the parents assist instinct, 

 and so hasten their preparation for life's tasks. Old 

 swimming birds take their young on their backs and 

 then slide them oif into the water — a very simple meth- 

 od, by which many a boy has been taught to swim. 

 Julius Tape gives a very beautiful description. He lived 

 for a long time on the Danube, and " often noticed that 

 young geese were afraid of the water before they learned 

 to swim, and only gradually became accustomed to it 

 by being, as it were, outwitted by the old ones. As soon 

 as the little ones are old enough to go on the water 

 their parents take them to the bank. The gander goes 

 before, keeping up a continual gabble, and the mother, 

 also gabbling, urges them on from behind. After a 

 very short trial of swimming the young ones are quick- 

 ly brought back to land, and this trial is repeated and 

 lengthened from day to day until they go into the 

 water alone." f That swimming is not entirely an ac- 

 quired art, however, but instinctive in part, is proved by 

 the case of ducks hatched by a hen. How Blichner 

 can find an argument against instinct in the fact that 

 these little ducks need a longer time to become accus- 

 tomed to the water I can not see. Hermann Miiller 



* So in the teaching of young beasts of prey to seize their 

 victim. 



f L. Blichner, Aus dem Geistesleben der Thiere, p. 31. 



