HEATHLANDS 



The highest part of the mound was in the shape 

 of a dome, a dome whitened by layers of fir-needles, 

 which was apparently the most recent part and 

 the centre of this year's operations. The mass of 

 the heap, though closely compacted, was fibrous, 

 and a stick could be easily thrust into it, exposing 

 the eggs. No sooner was such an opening made, 

 and the stick withdrawn from the gap, than the 

 ants swarmed into it, falling headlong over upon 

 each other, and filling the bottom with their strug- 

 gling bodies. Upon leaving the spot, to follow the 

 footpath, I stamped my feet to shake down any 

 stray insects, and then took off my coat and gave 

 it a thorough shaking. 



Immense ant-hills are often depicted in the illus- 

 trations to tropical travels, but this great pile, 

 which certainly contained more than a cart-load, was 

 within a few miles of Hyde Park-corner. From 

 nests like this large quantities of eggs are obtained 

 for feeding the partridges, hatched from the eggs 

 collected by mowers and purchased by keepers. 

 Part of the nest being laid bare with any tool, the 

 eggs are hastily taken out in masses and thrown 

 into a sack. Some think that ant's eggs, although so 

 favourite a food, are not always the most advanta- 

 geous. Birds which have been fed freely on these 

 eggs become fastidious and do not care for much 

 else, so that if the supply fails they fall off in con- 

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