Trail and Camp«Fire 



are stronger, swifter, more enduring than 

 others. If, then, their physical qualities vary, 

 as we know they do, it is only logical to 

 conclude that mental differences may also 

 exist between different individuals. Concern- 

 ing these mental differences we are much in 

 the dark, yet in the horses that we ride and 

 in the dogs that we have for our companions, 

 we recognize such individuality. If this exists 

 among domestic animals, we may be certain 

 that it does so among the wild ones. 



We may feel sure that on them, as on 

 all other animals, two principal motives — the 

 desire for food and the desire to escape from 

 their enemies — act at all times ; but besides 

 these, they have other impulses of which we 

 scarcely ever think. As one of these, the 

 hunter recognizes curiosity, which he con- 

 stantly observes, and which frequently proves 

 fatal, even to those animals which are the 

 most wary and the best able to take care of 

 themselves. Playfulness is always manifested 

 by the young, and often even by old mammals, 

 and is shown also in the habit common to many 

 a carnivorous animal, which disables its prey, 

 and then lets it run off, well knowing that it 

 can easily catch it again ; or in the case where 



154 



