THE UOB.SE EMMET, OR GREAT IIILL-ANT. 



529 



ants' nest. 



It is the peculiar habit of the Hill-ants to collect a vast quantity of 

 pieces of dry sticks, chips, bits of straw, and other rubbish, which 

 they carry to the surface of their colonies, and there place together ia 

 heaps, which sometimes become immensely large. This employment 

 they renew eery spring, and continue through the whole summer. 



