130 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



shaking twig or bit of cloth sets the whole family into 

 the most joyous agitation for fully five minutes. They 

 clamber about a tree like monkeys, hiding with out- 

 stretched wings behind the trunk till they are found, 

 and then they all run and dance around the tree, chasing 

 and teasing each other." 



We must always remember in estimating these ac- 

 tions of birds that most of them are probably con- 

 nected with courtship. But Huber's observations of ants 

 — which, however, have been questioned — indicate that 

 these insects actually do play at hiding and chasing.* 



(c) Play with lifeless objects. It usually appears, 

 as I have said, before the other two kinds of play already 

 mentioned. 



The sportiveness of kittens is alone sufficient to prove 

 that play is founded on instinct. The tiny creature 

 creeps from its nest, still blind, but as soon as even one 

 eye is open it toys with every rolling, running, sliding, 

 or fluttering object in its reach, f and only when it has 

 practised on such things and become prepared for the 

 real business of a preying animal does the old cat 

 bring living prey to it. In this case play is surely not 

 the child of work, as Wundt calls it, but rather it is 

 Ziegler who is right when he says that work is the child 

 of play. J; Various kinds of movements are distinguish- 

 able in a cat's play with balls, suspended cords, bundles 

 of paper, etc. A moving object is best to test this with, 

 for, " cceteris paribus, objects moving slowly fasten the 

 attention most readily " * — a fact of significance in the 

 struggle for life. 



* See Biichner, Geistesleben der Thiere, p. 196. 



+ Scheitlin. Thierseelenkunde, ii, p. 217. 



t Th. Zieorler, Das Geflihl, Stuttgart, 1898, p. 235. 



** L. William Stern, Zeit. fiir Psych, u. Phvs. der Sinnes- 



