The Scottish Naturalist. 2 1 7 



one material only, — that which happens to be abundant in the 

 vicinity of the nest. Thus, amongst heather, the dried leaves 

 and twigs ; amongst birch, short dead twigs ; in a fir wood, the 

 dead fir-needles ; or, near a juniper bush, the dead juniper 

 leaves will be found to constitute the substance of the nest. 

 On one occasion I noticed a nest composed chiefly of dried 

 grass, as the situation was among the big hassocks of Sesleria 

 cceruka. 



The situation of the nest is generally in some sheltered 

 dry spot ; often against the base of a tree or beside a 

 big stone. In one wood where the ant-hills were very numerous, 

 and where the trees were chiefly birch, Avith a few pines, I 

 noticed that the nests were generally placed under a pine — the 

 object of this being, I have no doubt, not only to obtain a cer- 

 tain amount of shelter from the thick evergreen foliage over- 

 head, but because the dead pine-needles afforded an inexhaus- 

 tible quarry of material for the construction of the nest. 



The twigs, or leaves, or whatever the nest may be made of, 

 are put together with a good deal of skill, and arranged in such 

 a manner that the nest is to a great extent waterproof. Along 

 the upper sides and top are a number of doors from which 

 galleries lead into the interior of the hill. The inside of the 

 nest is composed of a great number of irregular chambers, 

 some low down near the bottom, or even in a small and new 

 nest excavated in the ground ; others high up and near the top 

 of the nest. The lower part in an old nest is chiefly composed 

 of half-decomposed vegetable matter, tough, and matted to- 

 gether, and the galleries by which it is perforated do not seem 

 to be used. Often the base of an old nest is thickly overgrown 

 with grass and other plants for a foot or more up, and only the 

 upper part of the hill is inhabited and added to. 



The ant-hills vary considerably in size. A newly-formed 

 one contains but a few handfuls of material, while some that I 

 have measured were four feet high and twenty-five feet in 

 circumference at the base. Perhaps, however, the most usual 

 size is from one to two feet high, and ten to fifteen feet in 

 circumference. As to the age of a nest, I have not been able 

 to arrive at any conclusion. The great size and thickly over- 

 grown base of some hills indicate that their foundations must 

 have been laid many years ago. 



