COURTSHIP 259 
the satisfaction of innate impulse, the success of conative 
effort, and the diffused sense of well-being which accompanies 
a life of action, free and unrestrained. This freedom and 
gladness lead us to call it play ; but we must not draw the 
inference that the playful animal knows that it is playing, or 
forms any conception of the antithesis between work and play, 
which is a product of late development. 
In laying stress on the biological value of certain modes 
of behaviour which we thus call play, a value which lies in the 
practice and preparation they afford for life’s more earnest 
work, Professor Groos deserves our hearty thanks. Nor need 
our thanks be less hearty if we find that he has in some 
degree been anticipated by Darwin; for he has elaborated 
with systematic care what Darwin suggested incidentally. 
“ Nothing is more common,” said Darwin,* “ than for animals 
to take pleasure in practising whatever instinct they follow at 
other times for some real good. How often do we see birds 
which fly easily, gliding and sailing through the air, obviously 
for pleasure! The cat plays with the captured mouse, and 
the cormorant with the captured fish. The weaver bird, when 
confined in a cage, amuses itself by neatly weaving blades of 
grass between the wires of its cage. Birds which habitually 
fight during the breeding season are generally ready to fight 
at all times ; and the males of the capercailzie sometimes hold 
their Balzen, or leks, at the usual place of assemblage during 
the autumn. Hence it is not at all surprising that male birds 
should continue singing for their own amusement after the 
season of courtship is over.” 
In the behaviour of courtship we have what is essentially 
part of the serious business of animal life. And in including 
it under the heading of ‘“ Love Plays,” Professor Groos may 
seem to be forgetful of his own definition of play. He is, 
however, too clear a thinker not to see, and too honest an 
exponent not to say, that much of the emotional behaviour 
commonly regarded as courtship falls outside his main thesis 
“in being, strictly speaking, not mere practice preparatory to 
* “ Descent of Man,” vol. ii., p. 60, 2nd edit. 1888. 
