FIELD AND STUDY 



moments in its life every hour when a sudden and 

 complete transformation in its appearance takes 

 place; and those are when it dives for a fish. Its 

 heavy flight is suddenly arrested in the air fifty or 

 more feet above the water, and a striking change 

 in its looks and manner takes place; it turns down- 

 ward, its pouchlike bill becomes a long, straight 

 dagger, its wings are furled, and its whole form be- 

 comes like a gigantic arrowhead which shoots down- 

 ward and smites the water like a thunderbolt. The 

 spray flies, you hear the concussion, and the huge 

 form disappears beneath the wave. But only for a 

 second; in a twinkling it is again riding on the water, 

 looking as awkward and as commonplace as ever. 

 But of course Nature does not joke; it is man that 

 jokes and experiences a sense of humor in certain 

 of her forms, but all these forms have serious pur- 

 poses. Inanimate things often behave in a way to 

 excite one's risibles, but that end can be no part of 

 the plan of Nature. When inanimate things act like 

 human beings we laugh, and when human beings 

 act like inanimate things we laugh; why we laugh 

 it would not be easy to say. 



Most animals certainly have a keen sense of play, 

 but it is very doubtful if even so humanized an ani- 

 mal as the dog has any sense of humor. The gro- 

 tesque is pretty sure to frighten him instead of 

 amusing him. The sense of humor implies powers of 

 ideation, which the lower animals do not possess. 



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