THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 147 



Pechuel-Loesche tells us, in the report of the Loango 

 Expedition, that African sheep are much more coura- 

 geous and bellicose than the European varieties. The 

 ram Mfuka that the travellers kept at their station 

 seems to have been a regular tyrant. " He would not 

 endure quarrelling or noise among the men or animals. 

 When the amorous goats fought, he would look at them 

 inquiringly for a while and then deliberately run them 

 down. If the men quarrelled, he acted as peacemaker in 

 the same thoroughgoing way, much to the amusement 

 of all concerned. On one occasion the spokesman of an 

 inland chief was talking violently before the door, when 

 Mfuka gently came up, measured his distance, and dealt 

 a mighty blow so energetically on the solidest part of the 

 man's anatomy that he fell sprawling on the sand. That 

 put an end to the speech. It was a rare spectacle to see 

 the amazed ambassador sitting there, and the ram stand- 

 ing by solemnly gazing at him." * 



Brehm says of two curly bears, a male and a female: 

 " Soon began the merry game, in which they whirled 

 about so that it was impossible to distinguish one from 

 the other. They rolled on the floor like balls, seizing 

 and hugging each other, using jaws and tails indis- 

 criminately as weapons of offence and defence." It is 

 noteworthy that they never paired, though Brehm 

 hoped they would, and their play seems therefore to 

 have only the significance that Schaeffer attaches to 

 such romping. 



Now a few examples from the birds. The hooded 

 raven, which Naumann watched from his hiding place 

 for hours at a time, is a very lively bird. * They often 

 quarrelled, but never seriously; they danced and hopped, 



* Loango Expedition, iii, 1, p. 301. 



