FOES OF THE TERMITES 287 



in his mouth a load of tempered mortar half as big as himself, 

 which he lays on the edge of the orifice, and immediately hastens 

 back for more. Not the space of the tenth part of an inch is left 

 without labourers working upon it at the same moment ; crowds 

 are constantly hurrying to and fro ; yet, amid all this activity, 

 the greatest order reigns — no one impedes the other, but each 

 seems to thread the mazes of the multitude without trouble or 

 inconvenience. By the united labours of such an infinite host 

 the ruined wall soon rises again; and Mr. Smeathman has 

 ascertained that in a single night they will restore a gallery 

 of three or four yards in length. 



In numbers and architectural industry the American Termites 

 are not inferior to those of the old world. In the savannas of 

 Guiana their sugar-loaf or mushroom-shaped, pyramidal or 

 columnar hills are everywhere to be seen, impenetrable to the 

 rain, and strong enough to resist even a tropical tornado. On 

 the summits of these artificial mounds a neat little falcon {Falco 

 spai'verias) often takes his station, darting down, from time to 

 time, like lightning upon some unfortunate lizard, and then 

 again speedily returning to his look-out. The large caracara 

 eagle (Polyborus caracara) likewise chooses these eminences 

 as an observatory from whence he rushes robber-like on his 

 prey ; there also an ugly black lizard {Ecchymiotes torquatus) 

 loves to sun itself, but disappears immediately in the grass as 

 soon as a traveller approaches. 



In many parts of the Brazilian campos or savannas the 

 termite-hills, which are there generally of a more flattened 

 form, are so numerous that one is almost sure to meet with 

 one of them at the distance of every ten or twenty paces. The 

 great ant-bear digs deep holes into their sides, where after- 

 wards small owls build their nests. Similar termite structures, 

 of a dark-brown colour, and a round form, are attached to the 

 thick branches of the trees, and you will scarcely meet with a 

 single specimen of the tall candelabra-formed cactuses {Cerei), 

 so common on those high grass-plains, that is not loaded with 

 their w^eight. 



• In spite of their working in the dark, in spite of their sub- 

 terranean tunnels, their strongholds, and the fecundity of their 

 queens, the termites, even when their swarms do not expose 

 themselves to the dangers already mentioned, are subject to 



