THE GOLDEN GARDENER.— COURTSHIP 117 



the feast, a brief and primitive wooing ; after the wooing, 

 the feast ; in such delights the Hfe of the Gardener 

 passes. 



The females of my collection were in no proper ratio 

 to the number of aspiring lovers ; there were five females 

 to twenty males. No matter ; there was no rivalry, no 

 hustling ; all went peacefully and sooner or later each 

 was satisfied. 



I should have preferred a better proportioned assembly. 

 Chance, not choice, had given me that at my disposal. 

 In the early spring I had collected all the Gardeners I 

 could find under the stones of the neighbourhood, with- 

 out distinguishing the sexes, for they are not easy to 

 recognise merely by external characteristics. Later on I 

 learned by watching them that a slight excess of size was 

 the distinctive sign of the female. My menagerie, so ill- 

 proportioned in the matter of sex, was therefore the 

 result of chance. I do not suppose this preponderance of 

 males exists in natural conditions. On the other hand, 

 one never sees such numerous groups at liberty, in the 

 shelter of the same stone. The Gardener lives an 

 almost solitary life ; it is rarely that one finds two or 

 three beneath the same object of shelter. The gathering 

 in my menagerie was thus exceptional, although it did not 

 lead to confusion. There is plenty of room in the glass i 

 cage for excursions to a distance and for all their habitual 

 manoeuvres. Those who wish for solitude can obtain it ; 

 those who wish for company need not seek it. 



For the rest, captivity cannot lie heavily on them ; 

 that is proved by their frequent feasts, their constant 

 mating. They could not thrive better in the open ; per- 

 haps not so well, for food is less abundant under natural 



