The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1886-06-30
ANIMALS WHO LOVE FUN.
THE SENSE OF HUMoR COMMON TO
THE ANIMAL CREATION.


Stealing.
According to w. H. Beard, the artist,
nearly all the brute creation have some
mode of enjoying and many of them a
way of perpetrating, joke. He once
owned pointer which was well broken
for bird-hunting, and, boy-like, young
Beard trained it to chase the nimble rab-
bits, but he never was able to induce it
to tackle woodchuck, or, as it is called
South and West, a ground-hog. but once,
and then Wallace, the pointer, was badly
worsted. This pointer grew so keen that
it could readily discover if a woodchuck
was the occupant of hole, and then
it wagged its tail and put on sort of
shamed look, as much as to say: ooh,
no; excuse me-" 1t had a way of show
ing its teeth, not as if in anger, but as if
smiling. On one occasion the dog had
run ahead in a wheatfeld after harvest,
beating here and there and vibrating
its tail as if on the scent for rabbits.
Soon the dog left the earth, jumping
high in the air-so high that his form
for a moment was clearly cut against
the blue distance. OF course, this per-
formance was received with peals of
laughter from the boys. The dog
looked foolish for a moment, then
shriveled up his nose and grinned as
was his wont, wagging his tail unde-
cidedly all the time; in short, claims
Beard, trying to lie out of it by every
device at his command, since he was not
able to speak. Again he began his run,
snuffing zealously in the stubble, and
presently bounced up again, as before,
and then turning, smiled to show that
the performance was for our amusement.
This trick he played several times, and,
at last, the boys went to investigate, and
at the scene of the first leap found a
large toad, whose hopping motions he
had caricatured.
degree, but it was his great happiness to
chase pigs, not as the ordinary dog does,
grabbing them by the ear until piggy
squealed for mercy. Oh, no, Sport got
more fun out of a pig than that. When
the proper distance was established, and
the two animals just in position, he
would thrust his head under the pig,
adroitly catch him by the opposite flank,
and suddenly come to a stand still, with
brace. This with the pigs momentum
would, of course, bring him entirely
over, and he would, to his great aston
ishment land on his back instead of on
his feet at the next leap. Then Sport
would let go, cock his head to one side,
and, wagging his tail, look up with a
comical joke, as much as to say: 'How
is that for joke on pig"
The stories of parrots are innumerable,
but one especially that Mr. Beard relates
possesses the charm of novelty as well as
illustrating beyond doubt that these
mimics possess a keen sense of humor.
A gentleman owned a parrot that was
apparently possessed of no talents. One
day he was given piece of meat which
the cat wanted, and that worthy climbed
up the cage and stole it. Polly offered
no resistance, but appeared to be greatly
frightened, and flew to the top of the
cage and futtered about until the cat
succeeded in letting its tail fall be-
tween the bars Of the cage Polly
soon saw this, and, forgetting fear,
pounced down to the bottom of the cage
and catching the tail in its crooked beak,
gave it such pinch that pussy jumped
headlong to the floor, squallng as
though death was over it with club.
Polly at once set up ha-ha-ha, as much
like human being as possible.
Another Atery is of jolly fat butcher
who owned a very bright parrot. One
day, being of an apoplectic turn, he fell
over dead. Poll saw it, but said nothing.
She watched curiously everything that was
done. She saw the silence of the market
men as they raised the body and placed
it on bench, covering it with a cloth
and speaking only in subdued whis-
pers. Polly noted the heart broken grief
of the widow, and at last, gazing out of
her cage, cried out in an authoritative
tone ''Put up the shuttersm OF course,
at such a time and in such a place, and
coming from such a source, this remark
was too much. So Polly was removed at
the suggestion of some one. Still her
lhImor did not leave her, for she per-
emptorily demanded: "What is all this
aboutg"
If love of mischief can be regarded as
proof of humor, then surely these birds
have humor in a remarkable degree, or is
Impossible that it is evidence of their
possessing another human trait-miserli-
nessT "Mr. Beard relates a story of a
crow named jim who had the freedom of
a town, and through his numerous pTanks
and freaks came to be regarded az CON
siderable ofa nuisance. One fin@Sab.
bash day an old lady stood before her
glass arranging her hair and adjusting a
brand-new cap. She wUs putting in her
last hair-pln when the waggish bird, on
mischief bent, flew in. "Oh, jim, you
beauty cried the old lady, 'is that your"
jim took in the situation, and, making
one dash, seized in his beak the new cap,
and flying out of the window, bore the
thing Of beauty to its nest in = shattered
old oak, and no mortal ever saw it again.
The old lady did not attend church that
morning.