60 SOCIAL HABITATIONS. 
preparations. Large parties of the insects were detached 
for the purpose of preparing a road, and worked with the 
assiduity which seems to be a characteristic of these ener- 
geticinsects. Numbers of them were employed in smooth- 
ing the road to the nest by removing every obstacle out 
of the way, until by degrees a tolerably level road was 
obtained. The Ants are possessed of strength which seems 
gigantic when compared with their size, carrying away 
sticks four or five times as large as themselves, and never 
failing to pounce upon any grub or insect that might 
happen to be lurking beneath their shelter. They always 
carried such burdens longitudinally, grasping them with 
their jaws and legs, and passing the load under the body. 
Some of these roads are more than two hundred yards 
in length. 
Meanwhile, the other Ants were busy with the fowl. 
Beginning at the base of the beak, they contrived to pull 
out the feathers one by one, until they stripped it regularly 
backwards, working over the head, along the neck, and so 
on to the body. This was evidently a very hard task, as 
the insects did not possess sufficient strength to pull out 
the feathers by main force, and were consequently obliged 
to grub them up laboriously by the roots. The next 
business was to pull the bird to pieces, and at this work 
they were left. Unfortunately the experiment was spoiled 
by the natives, who stole the fowl, thinking that the Ants 
had eaten so many of their poultry that they were justi- 
fied in retaliation. Others chose to excuse themselves 
by saying that they thought the fowl to be a fetish 
offering to the Ants, and accordingly took it away from 
them. 
The large iguana lizards fall victims to the Driver Ants, 
and so do all reptiles, not excluding snakes. It seems, 
from the personal observations of Dr. Savage, that the 
