122 'l^HE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



killing, even in the midst of the actual thing. But is 

 this consensus omnium to be depended on? Is not 

 pleasure from cruelty a kind of degenerate aesthetic sat- 

 isfaction that requires higher intellectual capacity than 

 animals possess? I do not venture an assertion, but I 

 confess that the current idea seems to me very improba- 

 ble. A remark of Dr. Seitz in a letter to me seems 

 to be nearer the truth: " The cat's play with a cap- 

 tive mouse probably serves to practise the springing 

 movements, as well as affords an opportunity to study 

 the mouse's way of running and to acquire the necessary 

 stealth in ambush." 



Thus torture of living prey w^ould be an instinctive 

 exercise for acquiring skill in the chase, later turned 

 to account by the animal; it is a play, whose use- 

 fulness accounts for its existence, unusual as it is. Ap- 

 pearing in early youth, it becomes firmly estabhshed 

 in riper years, and the pleasure in being a cause plays 

 its part. 



Without assuming a positive attitude on this ques- 

 tion, I proceed to adduce some examples of torture by 

 beasts of prey. The cat has been referred to, and every 

 one is familiar with its habits. The wild cat also, ac- 

 cording to Scheitlin, plays with captive mice and birds. 

 A leopard that belonged to Raffles played for hours with 

 the fowls that were fed to him on the ship. Indeed, it 

 can safely be said that such behaviour is characteristic 

 of the whole feline tribe. 



"Most of the cat family,'' says Brehm, "have the 

 horrible practice of torturing their victims, pretending 

 to set them at liberty, until the wretched creatures at last 

 succumb to their wounds." Lenz relates of a marten: 

 " His hunger satisfied, he would play for hours with the 

 birds brought to him. He liked little marmots even 



