208 THE KEEPERS BOOK 



soil of the heaps ; the partridges work them easily. But 

 the ant-eggs proper I am writing now from the game- 

 preserving point of view come from the nests or heaps 

 of the great wood ants, either the black or the red ant. 

 These are mounds of fir needles, being in many instances 

 as large at the bottom in circumference as a wagon 

 wheel, and from 2 to 3 ft. in height even larger where 

 they are very old ones. They are found in fir woods, 

 on the warm, sunny 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 bulldogs, 

 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 

 curious 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 on anything. They spit, as the men term 

 it, their strong acid venomously. . . . These heaps are 

 harried for the home-bred birds that is, home and 

 hand-fed ones, both pheasants and partridges hatched 



