THE PLAY OF ANIMALS 223 



emotion and motion. Literally, Wordsworth's heart leaped 

 up when he beheld a rainbow in the sky, and filled with 

 pleasure as he watched the dancing daffodils. 



The play-nature of animal movements is most obvious 

 when there is something unusual about them. Thus Alix 

 relates that on one occasion, when botanising on the Alps, 

 his dog ceased to follow him on the gradual path, and 

 seemed deliberately to choose a long slope of frozen snow. 

 There he lay down on his back, folded his legs, and slid down 

 like a toboggan. At the foot he rose quietly, looked up to 

 his astonished master, and wagged his tail. Alix imagined 

 that his dog had thought out the short-cut ; it is much more 

 likely that it was simply play done for fun. 



All movements that can be shown to have direct utility 

 must, of course, be excluded from the category of play ; 

 but a number of cases seem well substantiated. When 

 Romanes says of fishes, " nothing can well be more ex- 

 pressive of sportive glee than many of their movements," 

 we feel that the statement is too general and vague ; but it 

 is difficult not to admit the genuineness of the movement 

 play of Macropods and of Sea-Horses. When Hudson says, 

 " I have spoken of the firefly's pastimes advisedly, for I 

 have really never been able to detect it doing anything 

 in the evening beyond flitting aimlessly about, like house- 

 flies in a room, hovering and revolving in company by the 

 hour, apparently for amusement," we feel the difficulty 

 of excluding some undiscovered utility ; but when we watch 

 monkeys on their swings, we feel that, if we are not to 

 make Nature magical, these are plays, and nothing else. 



Let us pass to the other simple and primitive expression 

 of the play-instinct, what we may call experimenting 

 when animals test things, often pulling them to pieces ; 

 or test themselves, often performing interesting feats ; or 

 test their neighbours, finding out how they will respond. 



