96 The Study of Animal Life part i 



ceeded by those of brighter tints, as the snowy hawthorn 

 gives place to the laburnum's " dropping wells of fire " and 

 the bloom of the lilac, the butterflies flit in the sunshine, the 

 chorus of birds grows stronger, and the lambs bleat in the 

 valley. Temperature rises, colours brighten, life becomes 

 strong and lusty, and the earth is filled with love. 



I. The Love of Mates. — In human life one of the 

 most complex musical chords is the love of mates, in the 

 higher forms of which we distinguish three notes — 

 physical, emotional, and intellectual attraction. The love 

 of animals, however, we can only roughly gauge by 

 analogy ; our knowledge is not sure enough to appreci- 

 ate it justly, though we know beyond any doubt that in 

 many the physical fondness of one sex for another is sub- 

 limed by the addition of subtler emotional sympathies. 

 Among mammals, which frequently pair in spring, the 

 males are often transformed by passion, the " timid " hare 

 becomes an excited combatant with his rivals, while in the 

 beasts of prey love often proves itself stronger than hunger. 

 There is much ferocity in mammalian courtship — savage 

 jealousy of rivals, mortal struggles between them, and suc- 

 cess in wooing to the strongest. In many cases the love- 

 making is like a storm — violent but passing. The animals 

 pair and separate — the females to motherhood, the males to 

 their ordinary life. A few, like some small antelopes, seem 

 to remain as mates from year to year ; many monkeys are 

 said to be monogamous ; but this is not the way of the 

 majority. 



Birds are more emotional than mammals, and their love- 

 making is more refined. The males are almost always 

 more decorative than their mates, and excel in the power of 

 song. They may sing, it is true, from sheer gladness of 

 heart, from a genuine joy of life, and their lay rises 

 " like the sap in the bough " ; but the main motive of 

 their music is certainly love. It may not always be music 

 to us, but it is sweet to the ears for which it is meant — to 

 which in many tones the song says ever " Hither, my love I 

 Here I am ! Here ! " Nor do the male birds woo by 

 singing alone, but by love dances and by fluttering displays 



