204 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



forth insects as the close electrical kind of heat that 

 precedes a thunderstorm. This is so well known that 

 when the flies are more than usually busy the farmer 

 makes haste to get in his hay, and lets down the canvas 

 over his rick. The cows give warning at the same 

 time by scampering about in the wildest and most 

 ludicrous manner their tails held up in the air 

 tormented by insects. 



The ha-ha wall, built of loose stones, is the home of 

 thousands upon thousands of ants, whose nests are 

 everywhere here, the ground being undisturbed by 

 passing footsteps. They ascend trees to a great height, 

 and may be seen going up the trunk sometimes in a 

 continuous stream, one behind the other in Indian file. 



In one spot on the hedge of the ha-ha is a row of 

 bee-hives; the garden wall and a shrubbery shelter 

 them here from the north and east, and the drop of 

 the ha-ha gives them a clear exit and entrance. This 

 is thought a great advantage not to have any hedge 

 or bush in front of the hives because the bees, heavily 

 laden with honey or pollen, encounter no obstruction 

 in coming home. They are believed to work more 

 energetically when this is the case, and they certainly 

 do seem to exhibit signs of annoyance, as if out of 

 temper, if they get entangled in a bush. Indeed, if you 

 chance to be pursued by an angry cloud of bees whose 

 ire you have aroused, the only safe place is a hedge 

 or bush, into which make haste to thrust yourself, 

 when the boughs and leaves will baffle them. If the 

 hive be moved to a different place, the bees that 



