48 
jects. I have held plates over the lamp or stove and 
burned them by the thousands, yet in twenty-four 
hours as many more would appear. Where do they 
come from? Leave them alone, and they will eat the 
refuse and disappear as mysteriously as they came. A 
dead bird, animal, or glass in which there has been 
sugar; a piece of cake or bread, even—it is just the 
same. 
I have made some interesting observations in watch- 
ing these small, apparently insignificant animals. They 
march in long slender lines and with the regularity of 
clock work. I have-dropped a small crust of moist 
bread in the centre of a room and of a tapestry carpet, 
and in half a day or less found it one living, red mass 
of these small red ants. They seem to be everywhere. 
I believe they have regular scouts, always roving about, 
seeking food. 
An ant that has found a bit of food will turn and re- 
trace his steps until he finds a companion, they will put 
their heads and their antenne, or both, together, touching 
each other a number of times, as if really in communica- 
tion with one another (as I do not doubt they are), when 
the first ant will return to the food, and the one bearing 
the message will rove round until Ze can communicate 
with another ant, when /e will return, likewise, to the 
same food. And so it goeson. It seems to be necessary 
that each communicate with some other before he can 
take his course to where the food is. So each communi- 
cates with another or some others. I have, in this way, 
seen a single ant turn the course of a procession of five 
hundred and over. 
I have had much amusement in keeping these ants 
from the table of a sick person, upon which were an 
assortment of provisions. First the ants crawled up the 
legs of the table,—then I tied papers of mnaphtha- 
line around the legs. This kept them off for awhile, 
but they soon walked fearless over the naphthaline and 
were up the table again. Old lemon did no good, vari- 
ous kinds of ‘‘sure cure” did no good; finally I cut four 
squares of sticky fly paper, a foot square, and put a 
piece under each leg. The ants came up to it, walked 
all around it, tried it in various places and then backed 
out. They would daintily step here and there upon it, 
feeling all about with their antenne, and retreat again. 
About a dozen, and no more, lost their lives by ventur- 
ing on it. But let the dust collect or the paper bend or 
break, and in less than half an hour the table was alive 
with them. They appeared in a procession orderly, 
and, when the food was gone, disappeared in a proces- 
sion orderly. They often come from the least crack in 
the wall or floor in the centre of a room,—whether they 
crawl around the room, in and out of the chinks, or 
come directly from the walls in which they live, I can- 
not tell. I once had a nest of them between the leaves 
of a book catalogue in the interior of my writing secre- 
tary. When and how they came there I do not know. 
I could, doubtless, fill a whole issue of Sczevce with the 
results of my watching of these interesting scavengers, 
for they are nothing else, but space forbids. I have had 
them a// over the body of a sick person, without any attempt 
to bite the person and only intent upon eating or carrying 
away crumbs of bread left there and in the immediate 
vicinity. Ihave put food in various situations for them 
and watched them find it. Some kinds of food they do 
not touch, apparently; others they are greedy for and 
swarm to. Is it possible to clear the building of these 
pests? I call them pests, as they are so active, so 
abundant, and will not let food placed for others, and not 
for them, alone. W. A. STEARNS. 
Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. 
SCIENCE: 
Vol. XXIII. No. 573 
On the Coloration of the Ruffed Grouse. 
One is rather left to suppose that Mr. J. H. Bowles 
believes from what he says in his article of the above title 
(Scdence, No. 571, p- 16) that the Eastern forms of 
Bonasa exhibit a dichromatism of plumage such as we 
find in the screech owls of the genus AZegascops. ‘This is 
the more likely to be so from the fact that he nowhere 
has stated in his. article that ornithologists recognize at 
least two forms of Bonasa in New England. He simply 
explains his ‘‘meaning by selecting three birds from a 
bag taken in this vicinity (Ponkapog, Mass.), as they 
show to perfection the three different phases seen in this 
species, viz.: gray, brown or red, and intermediate.” 
Now Bonasa in the matter of plumage is of dichromatic 
as is AWegascops, but two of the forms described by Mr. 
Bowles are either well-recognized species or sub-species of 
ruffed grouse. 3 
In his ‘‘ Manual of North American Birds” Mr. Ridg- 
way gives us the following representatives of this genus, 
viz.: Bonasa umbellus, B. u. umbelloides, B. u. togata and 
B. u. sabini. Of these I compare Bonasa umbellus and 
Bonasa umbellus togata with Mr. Bowles’s specimens. 
Mr. RipGway. 
LB. umbellus. 
a. Paler, with brown 
markings on lower parts 
rather indistinct (except on 
flanks), and more or less 
concealed on breast and 
belly by broad whitish tips 
to the feathers, these brown 
markings usually without 
distinct edges; bars on 
flanks usually clear; hair, 
brown. 
&. (B. umbellus.) Upper 
parts mostly or entirely 
rusty, the tail usually rusty 
ochraceous. Hab., eastern 
United States, west to edge 
of Great Plains (?), north to 
Massachusetts (lowlands), 
south to Georgia (uplands), 
‘Tennessee, Arkansas, etc. 
LBonasa u. togata. 
@. Darker, with brown 
markings on lower parts 
very conspicuous, every- 
where exposed and bordered 
by very distinct dusky bars; 
bars on flanks very dark 
brown or brownish black. 
1 
o. (B. u. togata.) Upper 
parts with more or less gray, 
often mostly grayish, the tail 
usually gray (sometimes 
tinged with ochraceous). 
Hab., eastern Oregon and 
Washington Territory, east 
to Moose Factory, Nova 
Scotia, Maine, etc., south- 
ward on mountains.of New 
England, New York, etc. 
Mr. Bow tes. 
(‘‘ The Southern form.”) 
The phase found in the 
southern portions. Its fan 
is of a decided rufous tint, 
appearing in no way like that 
of the northern bird, except 
for proportions, and the 
transverse black bands. 
(These bands are always 
black, having a decided 
tinge of rufous in but very 
few cases). The tail coverts 
and upper parts are also of 
a reddish tint, the ruffs 
being a strong brownish 
red, tipped with dark brown 
and tinged with iridescent 
brown.” 
(‘‘ The Northern form.’’) 
““Taking the one in the 
gray plumage, which is the 
type found most commonly 
in Maine and the other 
northern parts, the fan of 
long tail-feathers is of a 
decided grayish cast, the 
back, upper and lower tail 
coverts being of the same 
shade. (The tail coverts 
and back vary in intensity 
to a greater or less extent 
in individuals). The ruffs 
are black throughout, with 
a strong tinge of iridescent 
green.” 
