274 
WHITE ANTS. 
fly, the native sticks a piece of feather or white 
down to it with gum, and then letting it go, sets off 
after it as fast as he can : keeping his eye steadily 
fixed upon the insect, he rushes along like a mad- 
man, tumbling over trees and bushes that lie in his 
way, but rarely losing sight of his object, until con- 
ducted to its well-filled store, he is amply paid for 
all his trouble. The honey is not so firm as that of 
the English bee, but is of very fine flavour and 
quality. 
White ants are dug in great numbers out of 
their nests in the ground, which are generally found 
in the scrubs. They are a favourite food of the 
natives in the spring of the year. The females only 
are used, and at a time just before depositing their 
eggs. They are separated from the dirt that is 
taken up with them, by being thrown into the air, 
and caught again upon a trough of bark. 
The eggs of birds are extensively eaten by the 
natives, being chiefly confined to those kinds that 
leave the nest at birth, as the leipoa, the emu, the 
swan, the goose, the duck, &c. But of others, 
where the young remain some time in the nest after 
being hatched, the eggs are usually left, and the 
young taken before they can fly. The eggs of the 
leipoa, or native pheasant, are found in singular- 
looking mounds of sand, thrown up by the bird 
in the midst of the scrubs, and often measuring 
several yards in circumference. The egg is about 
the size of the goose egg, but the shell is extremely 
