Natural History Cabinet, Flowers

In this frontispiece interlocutor gesture, a boy waters garden flowers while a girl examines and collects flowers in her basket. The garden hedges and fountain suggest that we are looking down the same path shown in the frontispiece to Birds, this time close to the fountain, with the same two siblings. Where present, the girl sibling tends to watch or collect specimens in box or basket, rather than capturing the animals herself, although she is ready to pick these flowers. This gendering of activities tacitly hints at the potential violence or disturbance of animals, associated with boys, that comes with observing, collecting, and naming them.