54 SEX 



work together, and remain associated for a 

 considerable time it may be for life. It is 

 true of many birds that the cock and the hen 

 unite their energies in building the nest and 

 in providing for the young; the cock often 

 takes his share or more than his share of 

 brooding; some are faithful to one another 

 for a season ; others, like the eagles, mate for 

 life. The story of the hornbills has been 

 often told. The female lays an egg within a 

 hollow tree ; the male closes up the entrance 

 with resinous material until only a small 

 slit is left ; he feeds her through this opening 

 day after day until he is as lean as she is fat. 

 The egg is hatched, but the male, as Mr. 

 Pycraft tells us in his fine History of Birds 

 (1910), " is reduced to a mere skeleton, so 

 lowered in vitality that on a sudden fall in 

 the temperature, such as takes place after 

 rain, he not seldom falls down exhausted and 

 dies." It is unnecessary to beg any questions 

 by calling this behaviour self-sacrifice, but 

 it cannot be gainsaid that the male spends 

 himself in a manner which is objectively 

 other-regarding. 



In Mammals also we find examples of last- 

 ing partnerships on a monogamous basis, 

 where, as it seems to us, animal love reaches 

 its highest level, surviving the excitements of 

 the reproductive period, steadying itself in 

 the wider sympathy which is at once the con- 

 dition and the result of practical co-operation, 

 broadening itself, too, in its altruism as it 

 laps the family in its folds, surviving even 

 its dispersal. 



LOVE. The differences between man and 



