The Life of the Grasshopper 



stinct, certainly not. In this respect how far 

 superior is the Ant to the Mantis ! Besides, 

 the cycle of possible happenings is not closed. 



Young Ants still contained in their cocoon 

 — popularly known as Ants'-eggs — form the 

 food on which the Pheasant's brood is 

 reared. These are domestic poultry just as 

 much as the Pullet and the Capon, but their 

 keep makes greater demands on the owner's 

 care and purse. When it grows big, this 

 poultry is let loose in the woods; and people 

 calling themselves civilized take the greatest 

 pleasure in bringing down with their guns 

 the poor creatures which have lost the in- 

 stinct of self-preservation in the pheasantries, 

 or, to speak plainly, in the poultry-yard. 

 You cut the throat of the Chicken required 

 for roasting; you shoot, with all the parade 

 of sport, that other Chicken, the Pheasant. 

 I fail to understand those insensate mas- 

 sacres. 



Tartarin of Tarascon, in the absence of 

 game, used to shoot at his cap. I prefer 

 that. And above all I prefer the hunting, 

 real hunting, of another fervent consumer 

 of Ants, the Wryneck, the Tiro-lengo of the 

 Provencaux, so-called because of his scien- 

 tific method of darting his immensely-long 



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