THE COxMMON-SENSE VIEW i8r 



she and her faithful mate, out into the wide old 

 world. And I say there is love in the heart of 

 that mother as truly as in the heart of w^oman, 

 and there are joy and genuineness and sorrow and 

 fidelity in that sylvan home more sacred than 

 may sometimes bloom in the cold mansions of 

 men. 



Conjugal love is also very strong in many of 

 the feathered races, especially among those in 

 w^hich the wedding is for successive seasons or 

 for life. The pining of love-birds for their dead 

 sweethearts is well known. The mandarin duck 

 is proverbial for its marital faithfulness, and a 

 pair of these fowls is carried by the Chinese in 

 their marriage processions as an emblem of con- 

 stancy. Many instances are recorded of birds, 

 after having been deprived of their mates, refusing 

 steadfastly the attentions of other birds, and even 

 sometimes separating themselves entirely from the 

 society of their kind. The following account of 

 the devotion of a widowed pigeon for her deceased 

 consort sounds like a tale of human woe : 



* A man set to watch a field much patronised 

 by pigeons shot an old male pigeon who had long 

 been an inhabitant of the farm. His mate, 

 around whom he had for many a year cooed, 

 whom he had nourished with his own crop and 

 had assisted in rearing numerous young ones 

 immediately settled on the ground by his side 

 She refused to leave him, and manifested her grief 

 in the most expressive manner. The labourer took 

 up the dead bird and hunj it on a stake. Tj ^ 



