I04 BIRD PARADISE 



astonished to do anything but submit to the 

 affront with what grace he could command. The 

 English sparrow is given to these shrewd meth- 

 ods of replenishing his larder and, of course, the 

 other birds do not love to have it so. 



I notice that during the dry weather the little 

 red ants that bore holes and build houses in the 

 hard trodden path are on duty, apparently, night 

 and day. I see them everywhere and I conclude 

 that almost any place where they can find footing 

 in the hard earth will furnish them with the 

 requisites of what they call home. Passing along 

 the streets of New Hartford last week, I saw in 

 the hard path the little circles of red earth in 

 the centre of which appeared the open door with 

 the stream of ants going in and out. Later in 

 the day, in the city of Utica, I saw the little fel- 

 lows on duty — putting the doors of their mansions 

 into the seams of the great flagging stones. Hun- 

 dreds of them are trodden on and killed every 

 day, but someway they keep their numbers 

 good. Of course in the city their supply of food 

 is much greater than in the country, and in the 

 main their home under the large stones is a safe 

 and roomy one. I am at a loss in determining 

 how these minute creatures can work their way 



