XXIV. ANIMAL KINDERGARTEN 



A WRITER in the Reading Mercury, describing the 

 games played by lambs, says : * From one point of view 

 animal life is very serious, and if they are to survive 

 in the struggle they can ill afford to waste time in 

 frivolities. Young creatures are all educated on the 

 Kindergarten system, and their games, in which the 

 parents often join, are mainly mimic warfare or pursuit. 

 The antics of lambs when playing the game " I am the 

 King of the Castle," are just those which would be per- 

 formed, though with more dignity, by a ram confront- 

 ing his antagonist, and confident of his power to hurl 

 him into the abyss/ This extension of the Duke of 

 Wellington's observation on public-school games to the 

 sports of animals is not without probability; for the 

 instinct with which most young animals are equipped 

 is, as a rule, insufficient to ensure their safety, until 

 education both by their parents and playfellows comes 

 to the aid of inherited impulse. 



Mr. W. H. Hudson, when living on the Pampas of 



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