MAMMALS M» 



US, the way its victim runs, so that it can catch them 

 itself when they run free before it, and the mother is not 

 present to paralyse them. Deer chase each other for 

 hours, and so learn to escape when there is serious 

 occasion ; young foxes catch each other and duck to 

 avoid each other in front of the den, just as they will do 

 afterwards with the unsuspecting hare. 



Then come the fighting-games of the young male. 

 These have to make the animals strong and supple, in 

 order to beat their rivals in the love-conflict later on. 

 The joyous feeling of strength and power may lead in 

 this to a frightful mauling of the weaker. 



As we saw, the first impulse to all these games comes 

 from instinct. But there is another element that may 

 cause the animals to play — the passion for imitating. 

 T^his also is an instinct. We see this at once when we 

 look to the fact that every animal confines its imitation 

 to its own species. The young fox never tries to imitate 

 the bird in flying, but imitates its mother in trying to 

 capture it. We might draw up a special category of 

 "imitation-games." In these the young show what they 

 can do; they delight in showing that "they can do it 

 also," and strive " to do it better." 



The passion for imitation is an impulse that has 

 arisen and is fostered by natural selection, like every 

 other instinct. It leads the animal to learn quickly 

 what it will need in later life, and so to make experi- 

 ments on its own account. A flock of game will escape 

 easier if it follows unhesitatingly a leader that has 

 scented an enemy, than if each has first to convince 

 itself that flight is necessary. 



