THE SANGUINE ANTS. 339 
Ants on no occasion return to their 
besieged capital, even when the oppres- 
sors have retired to their own garrison; 
they, perhaps, well know they could 
never remain long in safety, and would 
be continually liable to the attacks of 
their unwelcome visitors. This new 
species of Amazon, almost invariably 
follows the same route; hence, it hap- 
pens, that on the least signal, they know 
what direction they are to take. They 
sometimes go a hundred and fifty paces 
distance, in search of a Negro habitation, 
and their attacks are always made by 
small divisions; which, as before stated, 
succeed and assist each other by means 
of couriers, evidently sent off for that 
purpose to the garrison. 
The invasions of the Sanguine Ants, 
although so destructive to the peace of 
their enemies, are yet, happily, less fre- 
quent than those of the Legionaries. 
They pillage only five or six ant-hills in 
the course of a summer; and the time 
appropriated to this object, is much more 
Q2 
