538 PRACTICAL JOKES. 



less in the occasional case where jest becomes earnest, where 

 what is begun in perfect good humour, terminates in ir- 

 ritability and quarrelsomeness. And in this latter event, what 

 is comical at first, may become even tragical at last. 



Among other pre-eminently mischievous animals may be 

 enumerated the magpie (Baird). Trickiness is not un- 

 common, as a prominent feature, in the character of some 

 of our cage birds (Buist). Mischievousness is a special 

 attribute of certain monkeys, such as the titi, or the mar- 

 mozet, which derives its main amusement from its destruc- 

 tiveness (Cassell). 



Mischievousness, however, is not always simply ludicrous 

 or amusing and innocuous. Nor does it always arise from 

 youthful frolicsomeness. There is much mischievousness 

 that is the product of mental perversion or disorder ; much 

 that is malicious in its character, and serious in its results. 

 The squirrel plays on its companions practical jokes that are 

 sometimes fatal (Cassell). 



The parrot sometimes succeeds, just as man does, in 

 setting cat and dog by the ears ; and in such a case it is 

 morally responsible for the result. 



Certain practical jokes involve various refinements of 

 cruelty, and an obvious delight in witnessing the effects of 

 cruelty, the torture of victims. Crows enjoy the impotent 

 fury of their victims (Hall). Monkeys show the 'keenest 

 delight in torturing others, simply for torturing sake,' put- 

 ting themselves to great trouble in order to gratify their 

 instinct of cruelty. ' A naturalist, who had lived a long time 

 in India, told me that he has not unfrequently seen mon- 

 keys feign death for an hour or two at a time, for the express 

 purpose of inducing crows and other carnivorous birds to 

 approach within grasping distance ; and when one of the 

 birds was caught, the delighted monkey put it to all kinds 

 of agonies, of which plucking alive seemed to be a favourite ' 

 (' Nature '). The parrot, too, enjoys the punishment of an- 

 other animal, perhaps for its misdemeanour or practical 

 joke ( Animal World '). 



It does not follow that there is always, though there 

 must be sometimes, realisation, or appreciation of the kind 



