118 BIEDS 



an instance of birds at play, it was at least a romance of 

 bird life. 



CHARLES F. OSSORY. 



December 5, 1908. 



NOTE. Of course, the eagle's sport was an " instance 

 of birds at play," and a very good one too, since it illus- 

 trates the great importance of play as a noviciate to the 

 real business of life. The eagle which learned to be an 

 adept in catching the turf -clod would be an adept in catch- 

 ing its prey. The make-believe of animals is a training 

 by amateur theatricals for the serious drama of adult life. 

 Play in animals has been well called ' ' the young form of 

 work " (Groos) and (apart from the joyousness of heart 

 which pulls the trigger) an opportunity to indulge pro- 

 gressive experiment without the more severe criticism of 

 later life. " The animals," says Professor Thomson, 

 " who played best when young, worked best, lived best, 

 perhaps loved best when they grew up, and thus through 

 the long ages the play instinct has been fostered. . . . 

 Play is thus a rehearsal without responsibilities, a pre- 

 liminary canter before the real race, a joyous apprentice- 

 ship to the business of life." And it is the same with 

 ourselves. Animal play, again, gives us one of the many 

 glimpses of the gladness and intensity of life in nature. 

 Play holds out one hand to youth and the other to 

 maturity, for animals, as Groos points out, do not play 

 because they are young, so much as are young in order to 

 play. They are young in order to be adult, sportive to be 

 serious. The playground is set symbolically just outside 

 the school-house. The young animals bound as to the 

 tabor's sound, that they may learn the daily round. 



