Drifting 183 



the hawk, being rudely brushed off, carried 

 away his wig. Now the bird was no less 

 astonished than the man, and when he saw 

 the wig dangling from his claws he gave a 

 loud cackle, unlike anything we had ever 

 heard before, and which was, I imagine, 

 more an expression of amusement than of 

 surprise. I think this, because afterwards I 

 often played the game of wig with him, to 

 the bird's delight, and he always " laughed" 

 as he carried off the prize. On the contrary, 

 the unsuccessful attempt to remove natural 

 hair elicited no such expression, but some- 

 times a squeal of disgust. 



In the Speftator of October I, 1892, page 

 444, 1 find a most thoughtful article, entitled 

 " The Animal Sense of Humor," and I quote 

 as follows : " The power of laughter is pecu- 

 liar to man, and the sense of humor may be 

 said, generally speaking, to be also his special 

 property." Again, " We never saw the 

 slightest approach to amusement in one animal 

 at the mistakes of another, though dogs, so far 

 as we can venture to interpret their thoughts, 

 do really feel amusement at the mistakes of 

 men." Possibly the author is right, but do 

 not cats show a sense of humor at the rough- 



