xxiv RIVERSIDE LETTERS 189 



am disposed to believe it would, but how is it 

 that this bringing up of eggs always first 

 commences after a heavy rain ? I never see 

 any such little heaps on the lawn during a 

 long dry hot spell of weather. The ants on 

 the lawn all seem to be small red ones of the 

 same sort as are found in meadows, in' which, 

 when the grass is cut, quite large ant-heaps 

 are frequently laid open by the scythe, which 

 operation discomforts the little red ants and 

 blunts the scythe badly. 



After a field has been mown starlings and 

 other birds flock to it, so I expect that these 

 dismantled heaps are part of the attraction. 



