110 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



nine. We got in all to-day twenty-one, among which were five 

 males of the ruby and topaz, all in fine plumage. In the morning 

 I saw flying over high in the air a pair of fork-tailed flycatchers 

 {Milvuhis tyrannus) ; but they kept on out of sight without light- 

 ing. We saw a small flock of partridges ; but although we ran 

 at once to the spot where they lit, we did not succeed in flushing a 

 single one. 



I noticed all through the coffee plantation a number of little 

 beaten paths, from two to three inches wide, and perfectly cleaned 

 of all grass, leaves, twigs, and even small gravel. They looked like 

 the impressions left on a grass lawn when a piece of timber that has 

 been lying on the grass for six months or more is taken up. A 

 peculiarity of these paths was that even when they passed for 



several yards over 

 the bare surface of 

 the out - cropping 

 stone, they could 

 still be plainly 

 traced, for the lich- 

 ens and dust had 

 been cleaned off un- 

 til it looked as if an 

 attempt had been 

 made to polish the 

 stone, and the path 

 was ligrhter colored 

 than the adjacent surface. I was wondering what animal had 

 made these, when I came upon one in use. Thousands of ants were 

 hurrying along in opposite directions, those going in one direction 

 being empty handed (or rather, empty jawed), each one of the oth- 

 ers carrying held up edgewise a piece of leaf, approximately circu- 

 lar in outline, and about the size of one's finger-nail. The ants 

 were a little smaller than our large black wood-ant. They were the 

 leaf-cutting ant, described by Bates in his " Naturalist on the Ama- 



SAUBA OR LEAF-CARRYING ANT. — 1. WORKER-MINOR; 

 2. WORKER-MAJOR ; O. SUBTERRANEAN-WORKER. 



(From " The Naturalist on the Amazon.") 



