226 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



have no other intent than that of taking note of the va- 

 rious figures on the street as the most human quality dis- 

 played by animals. It is certainly comical to see a big 

 dog with his forepaws on the window-sill gazing, for it 

 may be half an hour, just as a man would do, with 

 thoughtful, wrinkled brow, into the street. 



But other animals, too, do the same sort of thing. 

 A forester in Wiirtemberg had a tame doe, of which, 

 among other things, he relates the following: " She 

 likes to stand on the window-sill and watch what is 

 passing outside.'^ * 



Among monkeys the Cerocehus alhigena, a rather 

 large black xA^frican ape, may be instanced. Pechuel- 

 Loesche has described it in detail: " But he was drollest 

 when some new problem exercised his busy brain, as 

 w^hen w^e used the astronomical instruments before him 

 or carried on some unusual operation. He would sit 

 on the ground or a trunk or barrel in the attitude of a 

 deeply reflecting man, one hand holding his chin up 

 and a finger pressed on his lips, while he followed our 

 every movement, softly humming or grunting, and oc- 

 casionally indulging in one of the philippics already 

 described.^^ (This species has a very loud characteris- 

 tic roar.)'t A. Glinzel contributes this about a tame 

 magpie: "At the time of the morning recess he re- 

 paired to the playground of the school children, gener- 

 ally that of the boys, to watch their romps. At these 

 times he expressed his satisfaction by jumping about 

 and snapping his beak." \ 



The following story is told of a goose: " Some years 



* Diezels, Niederjagd, p. 145. 

 \ Loango Expedition, iii. p. 248. 



X Die gefiederte Welt, 1887. See K. Russ, Allerlei sprechendes 

 gefiedertes Volk, p. 74. 



