42 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PL A Y 



to water. They are very fussy, particular creatures, 

 much given to picking up and carrying off anything 

 odd which takes their fancy. And this, whatever it 

 may be, is duly taken to the water and well 'rinsed 

 out/ whether vegetables or bits of cloth, or even 

 solid hard things, like shells and shiny stones. No 

 ' social pressure ' can have been put upon the racoons 

 at the Zoo to make them conform to the laws of 

 the 'coon etiquette ; but they do so all the same, 

 and it is a fact that, last spring, one which had 

 a litter of young ones, to which she was much 

 attached, was suddenly seized with a desire to wash 

 them, and carrying them down one by one to her 

 little stone-bath, paddled and washed the poor little 

 creatures as if she had been washing cabbages. It 

 may be doubted whether the kittens did not owe 

 their death to this perverted feeling of social duty 

 in their parent, for they did not long survive their 

 immersion. 



Those who have watched the Thames swans in 

 the courting season will have noticed that, as might 

 be expected, these grave and stately birds have 

 certain rules for behaviour which no temptation can 

 make them break. When approaching a lady-swan, 

 or pursuing a rival which has intruded into its 

 particular reach of the river, the cock swan has 

 certain set movements which it goes through. It 



