90 INSECTS AT HOME. 



When sufficiently rested, he rouses himself, treads the bird 

 firmly into its grave, pulls it by the feathers this way and that 

 way, and, having settled it to his mind, begins to shovel in 

 the earth. This is done in a very short time, by means of his 

 broad head. He goes behind the rampart of earth, and pushes 

 it into the grave with amazing strength and dexterity, the 

 head being bent directly downwards at first, and then the nose 

 elevated with a kind of jerk, which sends the earth forwards. 

 After the grave is thus filled up, the earth is trodden in, and 

 undergoes another keen scrutiny all round, the bird being 

 completely hidden ; the Beetle then makes a hole in the still 

 loose earth, and, having buried the bird and his own bride, next 

 buries himself. The female lays her eggs in the carcase of the 

 bird, in number proportioned to its size ; and after this opera- 

 tion is over, and the pair have eaten as much of the savoury 

 viand as they please, they make their way out, and fly away in 

 quest of further adventures.' 



We will now examine these insects a little more in detail. 



On Plate IV. Fig. 4, is seen the large Necrojphovus humator, 

 just by the head of the bird. This is a large, though not 

 brightly-coloured species. It sometimes exceeds an inch in 

 lengtli, and its colour is deep, shining-black, with the three 

 last joints of the antennce reddish-yellow. The fringe-like 

 pads of the tarsi are of the same colour. This is a very common 

 species. 



Under the neck of the bird two Burying Beetles are seen 

 forcing their way beneath it. These are two distinct species, 

 and are thus given, because in this attitude they display the 

 distinguishing marks of the species. The Beetle nearest the 

 bird's beak is Necrophorus mortuorura. It varies in size from 

 not quite half to three-quarters of an inch. Its colour is 

 black, but on the base of the elytra is a broad, waved, orange 

 band, and at the apex is a curved spot of the same colour. 

 The hinder tibiae are straight, and the club of the antennae is 

 black. This is also a common species, and is sometimes found 

 in decaying fungi, as well as in animal matter. 



Next to this Beetle is a rather larger species, Necrophorus 

 vespillo, which is, on an average, nearly a quarter of an inch 

 longer than the preceding insect. A casual observer would 



