54 HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



either buzzing over recent graves, or emerging from them. 

 The sexton beetle in this country seldom finds so conveni- 

 ent a provision for him, and he is under the necessity of 

 taking much more trouble ; he sometimes avails himself of 

 dead dogs and horses, but these are too great rarities to be 

 his constant resort; the usual objects of his search are 

 dead mice, rats, birds, frogs, and moles ; of these a bird 

 is most commonly obtained. In the neighbourhood of 

 towns, every kind of garbage that is thrown out attracts 

 these beetles as soon as it begins to smell, and it is not 

 unusual to see them settling in our streets, enticed by the 

 grateful odour of such substances. The sexton beetles 

 hunt in couples, male and female ; and where six or eight 

 are found in a large animal, they are almost sure to be 

 males and females, in equal numbers ; they hunt by scent 

 only, the chase being mostly performed when no other sense 

 would be very available, viz., in the night. When they 

 have found a bird, great comfort is expressed by the male, 

 who wheels round and round above it, like a vulture over 

 the putrifying carcass of some giant of the forest, — the fe- 

 male settles on it at once, without this testimonial of satis- 

 faction ; the male at last settles also, and a savoury and 

 ample meal is made before the great work is begun. After 

 the beetles have appeased the calls of hunger, the bird is 

 abandoned for a while ; they both leave it to explore the 

 earth in the neighbourhood, and ascertain whether there is 

 a place suitable for interment; if on a ploughed field 

 there is no difficulty ; but if on grass, or among stones, 

 much labour is required to draw it to a more suitable place. 

 The operation of burying is performed almost entirely by 

 the male beetle, the female mostly hiding herself in the 

 body of the bird about to be buried, or sitting quietly upon 

 it, and allowing herself to be buried with it : the male be- 

 gins by digging a fuiTow all round the bird, at the distance 



