246 
WALDEN. 
bird. There too the turtle-doves sat over the spring, or 
fluttered from bough to bough of the soft white-pines 
over my head; or the red squirrel, coursing down the 
nearest bough, was particularly familiar and inquisitive. 
You only need sit still long enough in some attractive 
spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit 
themselves to you by turns. 
I was witness to events of a less peaceful character. 
One day when I went out to my wood-pile, or rather 
my pile of stumps, I observed two large ants, the one 
red, the other much larger, nearly half an inch long, and 
black, fiercely contending with one another. Having 
once got hold they never let go, but struggled and 
wrestled and rolled on the chips incessantly. Looking 
farther, I was surprised to find that the chips were cov¬ 
ered with such combatants, that it was not a duellum , 
but a helium ,, a war between two races of ants, the red 
always pitted against the black, and frequently two red 
ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons 
covered all the hills and vales in my wood-yard, and 
the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying, 
both red and black. It was the only battle which I 
have ever witnessed, the only battle-field I ever trod 
while the battle was raging; internecine war; the red 
republicans on the one hand, and the black imperialists 
on the other. On every side they were engaged in 
deadly combat, yet without any noise that I could hear, 
and human soldiers never fought so resolutely. I 
watched a couple that were fast locked in each other’s 
embraces, in a little sunny valley amid the chips, now at 
noon-day prepared to fight till the sun went down, or 
life went out. The smaller red champion had fastened 
himself like a vice to Ms adversary’s front, and through 
