216 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



dog's value by inciting liim to investigate every sound. 

 Scheitlin, overlooking the monkey, calls dogs the most 

 curious of animals next to goats, and, strange to say, 

 nightingales.* The curiosity of a dog is very ludicrous 

 when a beetle runs before him; evidently he is a little 

 afraid of the tiny creature, but he can not rest until 

 he has smelled it all over. A dog that Eomanes tells 

 of behaved in the same way with a soap bubble rolling 

 on the carpet. He was highly interested, but could not 

 make up his mind whether or not the thing was living, 

 but after some hesitation he overcame his misgivings, 

 approached cautiously, and touched the soap bubble 

 with his paw. " The bubble, of course, burst at once, 

 and I never saw astonishment more unmistakably ex- 

 pressed.'^ f 



Eimer gives an instance of the curiosity of cows: 

 '^ As soon as I had my easel and sketchbook arranged 

 the cows grazing about drew nearer and nearer, and 

 stood in a circle around me, motionless and with necks 

 outstretched, gazing at my paper as if to see what was 

 going on. Finally, they came so near as to be annoying, 

 and I was forced to drive them away with my stick. 

 But again and again they renewed their attempt to 

 penetrate the secret." % 



Anschiitz has portrayed the curiosity of horses in 

 a very successful instantaneous photograph. As the 

 photographer kneels on the ground busied with his 

 camera, a number of loose horses surround him, press- 

 ing close and stretching their long necks inquiringly to- 

 ward the strange objects. Scheitlin says of goats: "No 



* Thierseelenkimde, ii, p. 342. 



+ Romanes, ^Fental Evolution in Animals, p. 157. 



X G. H. Th. Eimer, Die Entstehung der Arten, 1888, i, p. 258. 



