COMIC ANIMALS 265 



"gate," and a swine-fever order is more dreaded by 

 show secretaries than an inopportune race meeting or 

 a wet day. 



But there is room for difference as to the humor- 

 ous side of animal life in creatures which are not 

 domesticated and have never changed. The owl is 

 a case in point. The Greeks looked upon him as 

 a grave and wise bird, and assigned him to Athene. 

 We think his appearance comic, and in common talk 

 the owl represents a bewildered, rather dense person 

 who cannot see the obvious. Though the Greek 

 revered the owl, Hindoo feeling is exactly the same 

 as ours. To call a stupid servant "Ooloo" ("You 

 owl ! ") would convey exactly the same meaning in 

 India as it would here. A physical explanation is 

 just possible. We and the Hindoos think of the 

 night-owl, a bird bewildered by light. Athene's owls, 

 which are now sold in large numbers in London as 

 pets, are little, wideawake ground-owls, able to see 

 by day as well as by night. 



Most people who have watched penguins hopping 

 on the ground will own that when moving they 

 are irresistibly funny. Their little wings, like fat 

 hands without arms, round white waistcoats, short 

 necks, and short legs with little, flat, black feet, 

 make them like a bird edition of Mr. Pickwick. 

 Their only movement is a series of hops, with the 

 head bent nervously forward as if they were afraid 

 of falling which they are and their little wings 

 stuck out on each side to balance them. Of course, 

 the penguin has not the least notion that it is 



