102 THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE CHAP. 



flit in the sunshine, the chorus of birds grows stronger, 

 and the lambs bleat in the valley. Temperature rises, 

 colours brighten, life becomes strong and lusty, and the 

 earth is filled with love. 



1. The Love of Mates. In human life one of the 

 most complex musical chords is the love of mates, in 

 the higher forms of which we distinguish three notes- 

 physical, emotional, and intellectual attraction. The 

 love of animals, however, we can only roughly gauge by 

 analogy ; our knowledge is not sure enough to appreci- 

 ate it justly, though we know beyond any doubt that in 

 many the physical fondness of one sex for another is 

 sublimed by the addition of subtler emotional sympathies. 

 Among mammals, which frequently pair in spring, the 

 males are often transformed by passion, the " timid ' 

 hare becomes an excited combatant with his rivals, while 

 in the beasts of prey love often proves itself stronger 

 than hunger. There is much ferocity in mammalian 

 courtship savage jealousy of rivals, mortal struggles 

 between them, and success in wooing to the strongest. 

 In many cases the love-making is like a storm violent 

 but passing. The animals pair and separate the 

 females to motherhood, the males to their ordinary life. 

 A few, like some small antelopes, seem to remain as 

 mates from year to year ; many monkeys are said to be 

 monogamous ; but this is not the way of the majority. 



Birds are more emotional than mammals, and their 

 love-making is more refined. The males are almost 

 always more decorative than their mates, and excel in 

 the power of song. They may sing, it is true, from sheer 

 gladness of heart, from a genuine joy of life, and their 

 lay rises " like the sap in the bough " ; but the main 

 motive of their music is certainly love. It may not 

 always be music to us, but it is sweet to the ears for 

 which it is meant to which in many tones the song 

 says ever ' Hither, my love ! Here I am ! Here ! ' 

 Nor do the male birds woo by singing alone, but by love 

 dances and by fluttering displays of their bright plumage ; 

 with flowers, bright pods, and shining shells, the bower- 

 birds decorate tents of love for their honeymoon. The 



