176 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



" An interesting quality of our tame monkey," says 

 Pechuel-Loesche, "is the way he has of choosing a 

 particular animal, or even an inanimate thing, as the 

 special object of his care. Strange friendships result 

 from it. It is a familiar fact that apes often adopt 

 the children of others of their own kind, care for them 

 tenderly, and protect them to the last extremity. When 

 our shepherd dog 6 Trine ' came home with her little 

 ones, tormented by fleas, we placed them in the mon- 

 key house, where they were joyfully received and 

 thoroughly cleansed, while the old dog looked on con- 

 tentedly from outside. But a great commotion was 

 raised when we attempted to take away the new pets, 

 the monkeys evidently expecting to keep them. The 

 good-natured ape Mohr formed a triple alliance with 

 the gorilla and the ram Mfuka. Jack, the baboon, 

 had a little pig for his friend, and often attempted to 

 ride on its back. Later, in place of the cheerful pig, 

 he had a half -grown dog for his chum, and they played 

 together in the drollest manner. The morose Isabella 

 chose a gray parrot for her pet, but the friendship was 

 broken from the day she tried to pull out the parrot's 

 beautiful tail feathers/' 



We will conclude with some examples from birds. 

 "A friend of mine," says Wood, "has a gray parrot 

 that is the tenderest and most devoted of foster mothers 

 to any helpless little creatures. In the garden were a 

 number of rosebushes surrounded by a wire fence thick- 

 ly covered with vines. A pair of finches nested here, 

 and were fed regularly by the people in the house, who 

 were kindly disposed to all animals. Polly noticed 

 these frequent visits to the rose garden, and the food 

 scattered there, and determined to follow so good an 

 example. Watching his chance, he escaped from the 



