THEIR MODE OF BURYING A BIRD. 129 
creases in height, the bird sinks. After incessant labour 
for about three hours, the beetle emerges, crawls upon the 
bird, and takes a survey of his work. If the female is on 
the bird, she is driven away by the male, who does not 
choose to be intruded on during the important business. 
The male beetle then remains for about an hour perfectly 
still, does not stir hand or foot ; he then dismounts, diving 
again into the grave, and pulls the bird down by the fea- 
thers, for half an hour : its own weight appears to sink it 
but very little. The earth then begins heaving and rising 
all round, as though under the influence of a little earth- 
quake : the feathers of the bird are again pulled, and 
again the bird descends. At last, after two or three hours' 
more labour, the beetle comes up, again gets on the bird, 
and again takes a survey, and then drops down, as though 
dead, or fallen suddenly fast asleep. When sufliciently 
rested, he rouses himself, treads the bird firmly into its 
grave, pulls it by the feathers this way and that way, and, 
having settled it to his mind, begins to shovel in the earth : 
this is done in a very short time, by means of his broad 
head. He goes behind the rampart of earth, and pushes 
it into the grave with amazing strength and dexterity ; 
the head being bent directly downward at first, and then 
the nose elevated with a kind of jerk, which sends the 
earth forwards. After the grave is thus filled up, the 
earth is trodden in, and undergoes another keen scrutiny 
all round, the bird being completely hidden; the beetle 
then makes a hole in the still loose earth, and having bu- 
ried the bird and his own bride, next buries himself. The 
female lays her eggs in the carcass of the bird, in number 
proportioned to its size ; and after this operation is over, 
and the pair have eaten as much of the savoury viand as 
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