More Beetles 



ing each other, these savages with their fe- 

 rocious embraces, whose caresses are sheer 

 mangling! For blows to be exchanged be- 

 tween males, in the fierce brawl for the pos- 

 session of the bride, is an everyday occur- 

 rence: it is the rule among the greater part 

 of the animal creation. But here the female 

 herself is sorely ill-treated, perhaps after 

 having been the first to begin. 



"Ah, you've damaged my plume!" says 

 the journeyman blacksmith. "All right, I'll 

 break your leg for you. Take that !" 



More reprisals follow. The shears are 

 brought into action on either side, and the 

 fight produces a pair of cripples. 



If the housing were inadequate, one could 

 put down this brutality to the terrified hust- 

 ling of a mob of maddened creatures; but one 

 can no longer do so when a roomy cage leaves 

 the two captives ample space for their noctur- 

 nal rambles. They lack nothing in the wire 

 dome but liberty of flight. Could this dep- 

 rivation tend to embitter their character? 

 How far removed are they from the Common 

 Capricorn! He, though he form one of a 

 dozen huddled under the same dish-cover, for 

 a month on end, without any neighbours' 

 quarrel, bestrides his companion, and, from 

 190 



