170 THE PLAY OP ANIMALS. 



among animals. Among the innumerable examples of 

 the adoption of foster children and of animal friends, 

 there are many that suggest play. I think, however, 

 that those cases should be excepted where the mother, 

 being robbed of her own young, has the young of some 

 other animal thrust upon her by some experimenter — 

 young which she regards with surprise but without a 

 clear understanding of the deception. 



We can as little speak of play in such a case as in 

 that of a hen that tries to hatch marble eggs that have 

 been placed under her. But there are still many cases 

 that are like human play, and I will cite several such 

 examples. The fact that the animal adopted is often 

 maltreated and even in danger of its life does not argue 

 against the playful intention. * We see little girls fre- 

 quently become very careless with their tenderly nur- 

 tured doll babies; we see them in the midst of maternal 

 cares for an eatable toy make nothing of biting its head 

 off; and we see the instinct of experimentation and 

 destruction many times indulged even at the peril of 

 their tame pets or little brother or sister, in spite of all 

 the love for them. 



Herr E. Duncker, of Berlin, observed, according 

 to Biichner's report, a dog on a farm in Pyrmont, whose 

 duty it was to watch the stock, and especially the poul- 

 try. He used to hunt up hidden eggs and bring them 

 to the kitchen.* " One day he placed an egg on the 

 sofa in the kitchen instead of on the stone floor, as usual. 

 The little chick imprisoned in it was trying to break 

 the shell, and after the egg was placed in a wadded 



* L. Bttchner, Liebe und Liebesleben in der Thierwelt, p. 185. 

 Most of the observations cited here are from this book, which, it 

 must be admitted, does not seem to be always of unimpeachable 

 reliability. 



