In this scheme birds are arranged according to what the author considered to be their natural method and sequence; but the result exhibits some unions as ill-assorted as can well be met with in the whole range of tentative arrangements of the class, together with some very unjustifiable divorces.
By legislative enactment whites and blacks living in adultery are to be punished by imprisonment or fine; divorces may be secured only after two years' residence in the state and on the ground of physical incapacity, adultery, extreme cruelty, habitual indulgence in violent temper, habitual drunkenness, desertion for one year, previous marriage still existing, or such relationship of the parties as is within the degrees for which marriage is prohibited by law.
The ratio of marriages is approximately 8.46 per thousand units of the population, and the ratio of divorces is 1.36 per thousand.
There are thus about 16 divorces for every hundred marriages.
Divorces take place chiefly among the lower orders,who frequently treat marriage merely as a test of a couples suitability to be helpmates in the struggles of life.