THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 253 



of a bird when he conducts his courtship successfully. 

 And thus it may come about that the actual exercise 

 of instinct for a real end may, to a certain degree, have 

 the psychological aspect of mere play. Just as strong 

 men sometimes undertake severe physical labour and 

 derive pleasure from it — that pleasure in power which 

 imparts a playful character to the most serious work — 

 so we may suppose the wooing bird enjoys his own agil- 

 ity and skill, nor can we deny to him the satisfaction 

 that makes their exercise a play. 



Thus the dance of courtship may be considered 

 psychologically as having the character of a movement 

 play, though it is not actually play in itself considered. 

 Further, it seems to follow, from the admission that the 

 female enjoys witnessing such blandishments, that the 

 male must be conscious of giving her that pleasure — 

 that is, is conscious that he is making a display — and 

 in this, too, the act which is a serious exercise of instinct 

 takes on the psychological aspect of play. Thus the 

 crude dualistic contrasting of human and animal court- 

 ships is shown to be unwarranted. 



Taking a general view of love plays, I distinguish 

 five separate classes, as follows: 



1. Love plays among young animals. 



2. Courtship by means of the arts of movement. 



3. Courtship by means of the display of unusual or 

 beautiful colours and forms. 



4. Courtship by means of noises and tones. 



5. Coquetry in the female. 



1. Love Plays among Young Animals. 



Among animals that have a period of youth the 

 sexual instinct usually finds expression in some sort of 

 play long before maturity. This is especially notice- 



