276 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. IX. 



portion of the order. The male chaffinches (fig. 76,), 

 as is well known, fight 

 among themselves, most 

 obstinately, during the sea- 

 son of pairing. In the king- 

 dom of Sweden, the fe- 

 males associate together in 

 large flocks, distinct from 

 the males, and spread over 

 various parts of Europe. 

 This takes place towards 

 the end of September : in 

 the following April, they 

 return once more to their mates, who, all this time, 

 have remained stationary. With us, in general, both 

 the sexes of the chaffinch are permanent residents ; but 

 White of Selborne affirms that he has witnessed large 

 flocks near that village about Christmas, which were 

 composed almost entirely of females. It is singular 

 that this species, which bears such an analogy to the 

 gallinaceous order, is of a rasorial type. 



(291.) The insects which are thought by Messrs. 

 Kirby and Spence to exemplify these associations 

 among annulose animals, are chiefly the flower-eating 

 beetles (Petalocera Thalerophaga), vulgarly termed 

 chafers. The common cockchafer (fig. 77.) and the 

 fernchafer (Melolontha vul- 

 garis and solstitialis Fab.) 

 at certain periods of the 

 year, and hours of the day, 

 hover over the tops of trees 

 and hedges like swarms of 

 bees ; and the males of an- 

 other species (Hoplia ar- 

 gentea Fab.) assemble by myriads, before noon, in the 

 meadows, when, in their infinite hosts, you will not 

 find even one female : after noon the congregation is 

 dissolved, and not a single individual is to be seen in the 

 air ; while those of Melolontha vulgaris and soktitialis 



