THE CARPENTER OF THE AVOODS. 83 
begin to be frightened, and suspect all is not 
right. They retreat to their deep house again, 
and the woodpecker flies off to a neighbouring 
ant-hill to play the same trick. 
And speaking of ants reminds me of some- 
thing I might tell you about them. 
In the tropics, there is a race of large, 
fierce ants, that live in ant-hills, as big as 
huts, and that look a little like them. These 
ants are very formidable creatures, especially 
when they set out on a foraging excursion. 
They issue from the ant-hill in an army, one 
rank marching behind the other, and making 
a regular column of ants along the path. 
Occasionally they reach a village ; and then 
they enter the houses, and take them by 
storm, falling on the provisions, and clearing 
everything before them. When there is no 
more to be had, they march out again ; and 
continue their excursion, plundering as they go. 
As they multiply very fast in those hot 
countries, they would become a terrible scourge 
if they were not held in check ; and there is 
a bird, called the ant-catcher, that seems to 
have been created for the purpose. He will 
sometimes run up the trees in search of them, 
