50 Sparroivs in the Corn. 



The ants' nests, which are so attractive to partridges, 

 are found in great numbers along the edge of the 

 corn-fields, being usually made on ground that is 

 seldom disturbed. The low mounds that border the 

 green track are populous with ants, whose nests are 

 scattered thicklj- on these banks, as also beside the 

 paths and wagon-tracks that traverse the fields and 

 are not torn up by the plough. An}' beaten track 

 such as this old path, however green, is generally 

 free from them on its surface : ants avoid placing 

 their nests where they ma}^ be trampled upon. This 

 may often be noticed in gardens : there are nests at 

 and under the edge of the paths, but none where 

 people walk. It is these nests in the banks and 

 mounds which draw the partridges so frequently 

 from the middle of the fields to the edges where 

 they can be seen ; they will come even to the banks 

 of frequented roads for the eggs of which they are 

 so fond. 



Now that their eourting-time is over, the larks do 

 not sing so continuously. Later on, when the ears 

 of wheat are ripe and the reapers are sharpening 

 their sickles, if you walk here, with the corn on 

 either hand, every ten or twenty yards a cloud of 

 sparrows and small birds will rise from it, literally 

 hiding the hawthorn bush on which they settle, so 

 that the green tree looks brown. Wait a little while, 

 and with defiant chirps back they go, disappearing 

 in the wheat. 



The sparrows will sometimes flutter at the top of 

 the stalk, hovering for a few moments in one spot, as 

 if trying to perch on the ears ; then, gi'asping one 

 with their claws, they sink with it and bear it to the 



