I've got the feather!

That's the name Sylvia gave to a game our chicks play. (They are young ones--we got them on April 14 and 15.) If a chick loses a feather, another chick will grab it in her beak and run around making a peculiar noise, not like the other cheeps they make. The other chicks chase her. Eventually one of the other chicks grabs it, and then she runs around making the noise. Sylvia twisted a piece of brown paper bag and gave it to a chick, and they played the same game with the paper twist. My friend Marion, who was raised in the English countryside, says that chickens also have a game called Kick the Twig, which is kind of an avian soccer.

Human games are of course more complicated. While I was researching my book, I came across descriptions of ancient Egyptian games. Game sets and paintings of Egyptians playing were found in their tombs. The ancient Tyrians and Sidonians left records on papyrus (which they imported from Egypt), and those rotted in the damper climate. So since the people of the Levant copied their art from Egypt, I made the assumption that they copied Egyptian games as well.

Since I'd never raised chickens before, I didn't know they were playful. But now that I think of it, mammals play and birds play. Do marsupials? I don't know. I've never seen cold-blooded creatures play (lizards, amphibians, insects, fish), but maybe someone else has and can enlighten me.