178 THE PARTRIDGE 



of sociable insects, among which the first place 

 might safely be given to ants. The spectacle 

 of an ants' nest, robbed and ruined by a wander- 

 ing covey of partridges, is always to me a subject 

 for profoundest thought. The habits of birds 

 are, indeed, at all times full of interest, but I 

 venture an opinion that the intelligence of ants 

 is above comparison with the intelligence of 

 birds. 



As summer passed, the ants' nests that had 

 escaped detection by the partridges became the 

 scenes of extraordinary labour. Hunting parties 

 of the " neuters " scoured the neighbourhood of 

 each hidden home. They would attack, in a 

 body, a creature much larger than themselves, 

 and, surrounding it, would strive to bite through 

 its joints, and inject the poisonous acid with which 

 they were armed. Or, spreading out like a pack 

 of eager hounds " in full cry," they would chase 

 untiringly through the grass some little quarry 

 that, aware of imminent peril, scurried with 

 utmost haste to a distant retreat. Others, like 

 jackals, would await the pleasure of some 

 animal or bird of prey feeding on its victim, 

 and then drag homewards the remains of the 

 feast. And others, again, would climb the trees 

 and the bushes, to filch the nectar distilled for 

 them by the patient aphids from the juice of 

 leaf and stem. Whether at home among the 



