CHIMPANZEE PASTIMES 123 



sit holding that thing before me, but he wished to try it 

 and see. He would take a leaf of it, and hold it up before 

 him with both hands, just as he saw me do ; but instead of 

 looking at the paper, he kept his eyes, most of the time, 

 on me. When I turned my paper over, he did the same 

 thing with his, but half the time it was upside down. 

 He did not appear to care for the pictures, or notice them, 

 except a few times he tried to pick them off the paper. 

 One large cut of a dog's head, when held at a short dis- 

 tance from him, he appeared to regard with a little interest, 

 as if he recognized it as that of an animal of some kind ; 

 but I cannot say just what his ideas concerning it really 

 were. 



Chimpanzees are not usually so playful or so funny as 

 monkeys, but they have a certain degree of mirth in their 

 nature, and at times display a marked sense of humor. 

 Moses was fond of playing peek-a-boo. He did not try to 

 conceal his body from view, but put his head behind a box 

 or something to hide his eyes. Then he would cautiously 

 peep at me. He would often put his head behind one of 

 the large tin boxes in the cage, leaving his w T hole body 

 visible. In this attitude he would utter a peculiar sound, 

 then draw his head out and look to see if I were watching 

 him. If not, he would repeat the act a few times and then 

 resort to some other means of amusing himself. But if he 

 could gain attention the romp began. He found great 

 pleasure in this simple pastime. He would roll over, kick 

 up his heels, and grin with evident delight. His favorite 

 hour for this sport was in the early part of the afternoon. 

 I spent much time in entertaining him in this way and in 



