142 TnE PLAY OF AXIMALS. 



ocelots, etc. Young wolves howl and yelp during their 

 play; when tame they play with children. Brehm 

 writes: "Hyenas, taken young, soon become accustomed 

 to a particular person, and have a method of showing 

 their pleasure at the appearance of a friend, that is not 

 employed by any other beast of prey that is known to 

 me. They rise with cries and jump about like mad, 

 struggle with each other merely from pleasant excite- 

 ment, bite one another, roll over and over on the 

 ground, spring and leap and hop about the cage, all 

 the time keeping up uninterruptedly a sound for which 

 there is no word — the nearest approach, perhaps, is to 

 call it a twittering." Young male weasels romp and 

 tussle, sometimes biting one another severely, when 

 the savage nature asserts itself. Sables often play 

 merrily together, standing upright the better to fight, 

 and I have seen two ant-eaters chasing and plaguing 

 each other. Bennett says of young duckbills: " One 

 evening my two little pets came out as usual toward 

 dusk and ate their supper. Then they began to play 

 like a pair of puppies, seizing one another with their 

 bills, striking with the fore paws, clambering over each 

 other, etc. When one of them fell in the strife and 

 the other confidently expected him to get up at once 

 and renew the battle, if it occurred to him to lie 

 still and scratch himself, his comrade calmly watched 

 the proceeding and waited till the j^lay began 

 again.'' 



Bears stand upright when they fight, like squabbling 

 boys. A young polar bear that I have watched was 

 fond of playing with his mother; he chased her, bit her 

 feet, and scratched her nose, while she tried to seize 

 him as he lay on his back. Badgers " come out on 

 still, sunny days and amuse themselves; the clumsy 



