MISCELLANEOUS. • 151 



great care being bestowed on its training for combative purposes, but it is not as 

 generally known, I doubt if known at all, that its imitative intelligence is on a par 

 with that of the parrot and other " talking " birds. I was not aware myself that 

 these birds could talk, till some years ago I found it out by something of an acci- 

 dent, and having been the possessor of the bird in question, I can speak from per- 

 sonal experience. Some years back, when in one of the northern districts, 

 of the Madras Presidency, a Mahomedan assured me that the Bulbul could talk, 

 and informed me that he had had several which could utter various Hindustani 

 phrases, but as I had reared a number of them, and in no instance knew of any 

 that went beyond their whistle, I could not believe him. Anyhow, as he seemed 

 quite confident of what he told me, I determined to give his statement a fair trial, 

 and he having brought me a young bird a short time afterwards, I straightway put 

 it to school. I could not, however, have been very industrious with my bird 

 pupil, for it never picked up a single sentence of my teaching, but what I failed in, 

 a parrot accomplished. Both these birds occupied the same quarters, and whether 

 it was knocked into its "hard-bound brains " by the parrot's continual chattering 

 or not, I cannot say, but it gradually began with " Polly, Polly, Polly, Polly, " 

 and eventually could say," Pretty Polly, prttty dear; twenty guineas for pretty 

 Polly," and other such hackneyed expressions of bird-lore, with head bent down, 

 tongue protruding, and wings expanded, antics for which thtse birds are famous. It 

 would utter sentence after sentence which, though not very distinct, were quite 

 as intelligible as the talk of a parrot and other birds. Like most pets, my poor 

 bird came to an untimely end through the carelessness of the servant, who left 

 the cage door open one night, so that the next morning I found it destroyed by 

 that pest, I had almost said of creation — the rat. 



Yercaud, April 1889. A. W. MORRIS, F. Z. S. 



THE RED ANT. 

 By E. H. A. 

 The ways of this remarkable insect are not so well known as they deserve to be 

 Most of us have made its acquaintance at times m the jungles, but these casual 

 introductions have left no desire for closer intimacy. 1 think, therefore, that a 

 short account of the Red Ant at home, uiiillustrated by live specimens, may be 

 interesting. 



The insect I mean is about half an inch long, and of a light red, or orange- 

 brown, tint. Its scientific name is Ccimponotus smaragdinus, or " the emerald ant," 

 and Kirby says it is remarkable for its green colour. The explanation of this is 

 probably that the first specimen which found its way to Europe was a queen, for 

 she is green and is a handsome and striking insect We are more concerned with 

 the worker, and may stick to our familiar name. The red ant, then, is not a house 

 ant. It does not enter our dwellings and plunder our stores. Neither is it a 

 ground ant. It makes neither burrows nor hills. It is entirely arboreal, making 

 its nest among green leaves, which it draws together with a material like silk, or 

 cobweb. As to its food, it seems, like most ill-tempered people, to need very 

 little. I have never seen the red ant storing any thing, but they swarm about 

 corrinda bushes during the fruit season, and often enclose the berries in their leaf- 

 cells. They do the same with other fruits, and I have seen them in attendance on 



