162 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



ground exists for them than the fact that the birds take 

 pleasure in possessing objects that are gaily coloured 

 or bright. Our next question, then, is, Whence arises 

 this delight in bright and gaily coloured things? 

 Since Darwin's time it is the custom to attribute every- 

 thing of this kind to a direct aesthetic enjoyment of the 

 beautiful. But that is an unsatisfactory explanation, 

 originating in a misconception of the essentials of aes- 

 thetics. At the most, such satisfaction as these birds 

 feel can only be regarded as a stimulus to sensuous 

 pleasure, which, strictly speaking, is not aesthetic en- 

 joyment at all. For the full perception of beauty, the 

 sensuous pleasure arises first when, through the function 

 which I have called "inner imitation," the sensuously 

 pleasing object takes on spiritual embodiment. It is 

 highly improbable that a psychological operation such 

 as this, which is rarely called forth even in men in 

 its full strength, should be developed in animals. 

 What they really feel is the pleasure of the senses pro- 

 duced by physical well-being without reference to aes- 

 thetics, such as may be produced in ourselves by the con- 

 templation of a clear sky, pure air, and green fields. 

 This sensuous delight in what is bright and gay is an 

 important antecedent to aesthetic pleasure because it 

 assures a lively perception of the object, but it should 

 not be mistaken for aesthetic pleasure itself. 



Further, we may well suspect that this delight in 

 striking colours and forms is not unconnected with the 

 sexual life. It is well known that Darwin teaches that 

 these characteristics in male birds largely control sexual 

 selection. Later I shall discuss the question whether 

 we can rightly refer the origin of such phenomena to 

 sexual selection, even though its later influence be 

 granted. There can be no doubt that animals are ex- 



