208 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



slopes, under the trees as a rule, pretty close to 

 the stems of the trees. The partridges and their 

 chicks do not visit these heaps, for they would get 

 bitten to death by the ferocious creatures. The 

 keepers and their lads procure the eggs of these, 

 and a nice job it is; a wood-pick, a sack, and a 

 shovel are the implements required for the work. 

 Round the men's gaiters or trousers leather straps 

 are tightly buckled, to prevent if possible the great 

 ants from fixing on them, as they will try to do 

 like bull-dogs, when the heaps are harried. The 

 top of the heap is shovelled off, laying open the 

 domestic arrangements of the ant-heap, and showing 

 also the alarmed and furious ants trying to carry off 

 their large eggs to a place of safety ; but it is all 

 in vain eggs and all, they go into the sack. In 

 spite of every precaution, the ant-egg getters do 

 get bitten severely, for the ants would fix anything. 

 They spit, as the men term it, their strong acid 

 venomously. When a lot of heaps have been 

 harried, it smells as if some coarse kind of aromatic 

 vinegar had been poured out under the trees. 



The ants revenge themselves in this fashion : they 

 fix you with their pincers, then bending their bodies 



