WHY CALLED "DEMOISELLE. 
335 
partiality for bright-coloured stuffs sometimes leads her astray. Velvet- 
black and purple, the white of silver and the yellow of gold, are fre- 
quently so strongly contrasted in her costume, that it comes to resemble 
a harlequin's, and is deficient in distinction if not in originality. 
The Numidian demoiselle has "more fashion, moi'e reticence and 
decency," and skilfully blends choregraphic suppleness and graceful 
poses witli dignity of bearing. She is a great lady of the age of Louis 
Quatorze, who loves before all things the stately minuet, and has a 
sovereign contempt for the galop and the waltz. Her attire, exceed- 
ingly artistic without any show of art, is a model of good taste and 
simplicity. These " demoiselles," as they are not inappropriately called, 
love to contemplate their portrait in the crystal of the waves and the 
mirrors of Venice. According to Aristotle, they are so passionately 
fond of the dance, that it sometimes leads them to forget the sentiment 
of their personal safety, and in their rapturous enjoyment of an entranc- 
ing figure they allow themselves to be surprised by the enemy. We 
hardly turn to the Greeks, however, for accurate observations in 
natural history. They indulged too largely in the imaginative and ideal, 
and thought more of grace of fancy than of exactness of statement. 
It has been suggested that they owe their name of "demoiselles" to 
the habit they have of bridling up when examined by the admiring 
spectator ; like, says Toussenel, the young coquettes of a village when 
they pass under the fire of the ardent glances of a regiment on leaving 
church — a comparison which would never have occurred to anybody but 
a French naturalist ! And of old, it is said, hard-hearted men took ad- 
vantage of the fondness of these poor creatures for elegance of dress and 
the performances of the toilette, to devise for them an unworthy snare. 
The process was this : the sportsman first washed his hands and face at a 
certain distance from the birds, who never failed to watch him carefully; 
then he poured some birdlime into the basin instead of water, and retired 
softly. The curious cranes, immediately on his departure, essayed to re- 
peat the performance. Of course, they besmeared head, feet, and breast 
with the adhesive substance, and quickly fell victims to their curiosity. 
The cranes of Europe and Asia naturally share the partiality of 
their congeners for the dance. Kempfer relates that in Japan they 
