94 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



to catch, and he then quickly turned it round and 

 round until it was screwed up to the end. The most 

 remarkable thing was that, however often he was dis- 

 appointed in the beginning, he never was induced to 

 try turning the handle the wrong way; he always 

 screwed it from right to left. As soon as he had accom- 

 plished his wish he unscrewed it again, and then 

 screwed it in again, the second time rather more easily 

 than the first, and so on many times. When he had 

 become by practice tolerably perfect in screwing and 

 unscrewing, he gave it up and took to some other 

 amusement. One remarkable thing is that he should 

 take so much trouble to do that which is of no material 

 benefit to him. ... It is not the desire of praise, as 

 he never notices people looking on; it is simply the 

 desire to achieve an object for the sake of achieving an 

 object, and he never rests nor allows his attention to 

 be distracted until it is done." * The report for Feb- 

 ruary 10, 1881, runs: " We gave him a bundle of sticks 

 this morning, and he amused himself all day by poking 

 them in the fire and pulling them out again to smell 

 the smoking end. He likewise pulls hot cinders from 

 the grate and passes them over his head and chest, evi- 

 dently enjoying the warmth, but never burning him- 

 self. He also puts hot ashes on his head. I gave him 

 some paper, and, as he can not from the length of 

 his chain quite reach the fire, he rolled the paper up 

 into the form of a stick and then put it into the fire, 

 pulling it out as soon as it caught light, and watching 

 the blaze in the fender with great satisfaction. I gave 

 him a whole newspaper, and he tore it in pieces, rolled 

 up each piece, as I have described, to make it long 



* Romanes, Animal Intelligence, p. 490. 



