226 THE PLAY OP ANIMALS. 



have no other intent than that of taking note of the va- 

 rious figures on the street as the most human quality dis- 

 played by animals. It is certainly comical to see a big 

 dog with his forepaws on the window-sill gazing, for it 

 may be half an hour, just as a man would do, with 

 thoughtful, wrinkled brow, into the street. 



But other animals, too, "do the same sort of thing. 

 A forester in Wiirtemberg had a tame doe, of which, 

 among other things, he relates the following: " She 

 likes to stand on the window-sill and watch what is 

 passing outside." * 



Among monkeys the Cerocebus albigena, a rather 

 large black African ape, may be instanced. Pechuel- 

 Loesche has described it in detail: " But he was drollest 

 when some new problem exercised his busy brain, as 

 when we used the astronomical instruments before him 

 or carried on some unusual operation. He would sit 

 on the ground or a trunk or barrel in the attitude of a 

 deeply reflecting man, one hand holding his chin up 

 and a finger pressed on his lips, while he followed our 

 every movement, softly humming or grunting, and oc- 

 casionally indulging in one of the philippics already 

 described." (This species has a very loud characteris- 

 tic roarj'f A. Giinzel contributes this about a tame 

 magpie: "At the time of the morning recess he re- 

 paired to the playground of the school children, gener- 

 ally that of the boys, to watch their romps. At these 

 times he expressed his satisfaction by jumping about 

 and snapping his beak." J 



The following story is told of a goose: " Some years 



* Diezels, Niederjagd, p. 145. 

 f Loango Expedition, iii, p. 243. 



% Die gefiederte "Welt, 1887. See K. Russ, Allerlei sprechendes 

 gefiedertes Volk, p. 74. 



