2io WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



eggs, and these fix on the feeding birds, making 

 them jump off the ground. The common emmets 

 the creatures that the wild birds feed on, their young 

 broods particularly are harmless, but the large 

 wood-ants are not. I have known them pull crea- 

 tures to pieces and eat them up so cleanly, that 

 their skeletons have been far better prepared than 

 you would see them among specimens got up for 

 anatomical purposes ; in fact some, who know what 

 the ants can and will do, place small animals and 

 birds, ranging from rabbits, squirrels, and mice, to 

 birds from the size of a partridge down to the 

 golden-crested wren, in their nests. If a perfect 

 skeleton is required of a viper, snake, slow-worm, 

 toad, frog, or either of the lizards, place the reptile 

 in one of these fir-needle heaps in some lonely 

 place in the fir-woods, one that is not likely to 

 be visited, and you will get what you want. 



In a dead hard winter, in fact such a one as we 

 frequently experienced, our friend the partridge is 

 not put to it as his larger associates are, for the 

 bird naturally is a ground one; all his living is 

 got from it : he lives, broods, and jugs there. No 

 matter how deep the snow may be, or how intense 



