THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 1G7 



These thoughts are merely thrown out, not as seri- 

 ous statements, nor even as hypotheses, but rather as 

 half-playful speculation as to what may be going on in 

 the bird's mind, and may be taken for what they are 

 worth. However, it remains true that our point of 

 departure, namely, the delight in what is bright or gay, 

 is very remarkable, is a mental capability bringing the 

 animal that possesses it into line with primitive man 

 at this one point, when the development of his other 

 faculties lags far behind. Their case is like that of one 

 of those astonishing, and at the same time stupid, mathe- 

 matical geniuses, whose mental capacity is inferior to 

 that of the average man in all directions save one, while 

 his ability to grasp and manipulate series of numbers 

 is something phenomenal. But we must bear in mind 

 that such phenomena may after all be explained on 

 grounds of practical utility; and if thus explained they 

 have no place in the psychology of play. 



6. Nursing Plays. 



During the time that I spent in study preparatory 

 to writing this book I naturally became much interested 

 in human play as well, and although my classification 

 of animal play has not to my knowledge been influenced 

 by any system of human play, I confess that I am now 

 confronted by a problem that would not have been 

 likely to attract my attention if I had not seen children 

 at play. We all know how much of that is with dolls, 

 and the question for us now is whether there is anything 

 analogous to it in the animal world. Of course, an 

 animal in its natural condition can never be the possess- 

 or of a doll — that is, a plastic representation of an indi- 

 vidual of its own kind — and even if one were given him 

 13 



