74 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE chap. 



they often visit over twenty flowers in a 

 minute, keeping constantly to one species, 

 without yielding a, moment's dalliance to any 

 more sweet or lovely tempter. Ants fully 

 deserve the commendation of Solomon. 

 Wasps have not the same reputation for in- 

 dustry ; but I have watched them from before 

 four in the morning till dark at night work- 

 ing like animated machines without a mo- 

 ment's rest or intermission. Sundays and 

 Bank Holidays are all the same to them. 

 Again, Birds have their own gardens and 

 farms from which they do not wander, and 

 within which they will tolerate no interfer- 

 ence. Their ideas of the rights of property 

 are far stricter than those of some statesmen. 

 As to freedom, they have their daily duties as 

 much as a mechanic in a mill or a clerk in an 

 office. They suffer under alarms, moreover, 

 from which we are ha.ppily free. Mr. Galton 

 believes that the life of wild animals is very 

 anxious. "From my own recollection," he 

 says, " I believe that every antelope in South 

 Africa has to run for its life every one or two 

 days upon an average, and that he starts or 



