284 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



her coquetry manifests itself in alternate calling and 

 fleeing. It is not essentially playful, for it is a struggle 

 between opposing instincts and has a serious object, 

 but we can easily see how it becomes play when uncon- 

 nected with the strong emotions of fear or anger — that 

 is, when it is a sort of kittenishness. Then the flight 

 and resistance of the female, though they are not play 

 pure and simple, take on something of the character of a 

 game and temper the rough force of instinct. 



As adequate descriptions of such playful coquetry 

 are rare, I have only a few examples from the higher 

 animals. The Miillers describe as follows the gambols 

 of a pair of squirrels: " The male comes near and flees, 

 grunts and whispers, runs and leaps, approaches his 

 mate and leans against her; she turns away and lures 

 him on, appears indifferent and then tries to please him, 

 changes from momentary anger to frisky good humour; 

 the bounds and chase go on so rapidly that one can 

 scarcely follow their turns, and finds himself charmed 

 by the sight of this artless sportiveness, as graceful as it 

 is beautiful." * " Another exquisite game may be seen in 

 April and May, when the pairing watershrews carry 

 on their teasing chase. The fleeing female pretends 

 to hide, crouching in mole holes and under stones, 

 roots, and rubbish while her mate looks for her. Or 

 she skips out, throws herself in the water, runs across 

 on the bottom and clambers to a new place on the other 

 side of the brook; but he soon spies her and follows in 

 her footsteps. So the game goes on, with only rest 

 time enough for them to eat in." f 



The doe, in her breeding time, calls to the buck in 

 clear tones that bring him to her side at once, then she, 



* Thiere der Heimath, vol. i, p. 196. f Ibid., p. 280. 



