422 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



VIII.— RED ANTS' KBBT& 



Some time ago I gave the members of the Society some account of the ways 



of the red ant (or yellow ant, as some prefer to call it,) known to formicolo gists 



as (Ecopylla smaru'pjtna, I did not then know hew it constructs its curious 



leaf nests, so bitterly familiar to many of us. How I could live so long 



without knowing this, I cannot now explain, out in case there are others as 



stupid as myself I will describe the process. I first saw it going on in a tree 



with very large, leathery lea res, two of which were then being drawn together. 



Beginning at the point where the leaves were nearest each other, several ants 



laid hold of one with their jaws, and of the other with them hind feet, and 



began to pull as ants can. Further on, where the distance was greater, one 



ant seized one leaf with its jaws, then a second seized the first by the " small 



of the back," grasped the other leaf with its hind feet, and pulled. Further 



on still a chain of three, four, five, or even six, ants united the two leaves. 



As every member of the community which could find room for jaw or foot 



joined in, the space between the leaves was spanned by a web of ant fabric, in 



a state of the highest tension, very like the elastic in a " springside" boot. In 



the meantime a number of single ants were busy securing the labours of the rest 



with strong cords of silk, and tightening these as the leaves were drawn nearer 



and nearer. When a sufficient number of leaves have thus been bound together 



at their edges, the whole is made weatherproof with sheet silk, and divided 



into chambers and passages with the same material. 



E. H. AITKEN, 

 Karwar, 3rd November. 1890. 



IX.— A " MALABAR CROW PHEASANT" TAKING TO THE WATER. 



Oy Saturday evening last, November 15, I was playing with my children by 

 the Charlotte Lake at Matheran, when our tonj on- wallas called my attention 

 to a creature which was slowly and awkwardly swimming towards the opposite 

 bank. Two or three kites were wheeling above it ; but whether they had 

 driven it into the water, or were only minded to take advantage of its difficul- 

 ties, I do not know. Our shouts drove them away, and the swimmer reached the 

 bank at a shelving place, and we recognised it as a " Malabar Crow Pheasant." 

 It disappeared among the brushwood for perhaps a quarter of an hour or twenty 

 minutes, and then, with no kites or other visible danger in sight, we were 

 astonished by seeing it take to the water again, and swim for the bank from 

 which it had started. As it was making for a place where the edge is a sheer 

 wall, we went along to meet it. It swam straight for us, and only turned off 

 at a right angle, skirting the wall, when it was well within arm's length. 

 Then, as it seemed exhausted, I reached out and lifted it from the water. I was 

 able to observe it carefully for the last few yards of its curious swim. The 

 whole body was submerged, and only the head and neck, and the extreme 

 top of the pinions stood out of the water. It oared itself along with its wings, 



