# The Way of the Wild (Hawkes)/The Antics of an Ant Hill

Probably the most wonderful little people in all nature are the ants. The bees are also wonderful, but I think that the ants are still more interesting. It takes a great deal of study, however, to understand the ants, and to know all their ways. So in this story I will simply tell a very little about them.
My first close acquaintance with a large colony of ants was not pleasant. It was an experience that I long remembered. I was a small boy at the time and had gone to the pasture to pick raspberries. My mother had promised me a quarter of a dollar if I filled my pail, so I was very intent on the berry-picking. This being the case I was not looking out for any ant hills.
I am sure that a city of human beings would ​not like to have a great giant, miles tall, come walking upon the very top of their city. Neither did the ants.
I was very intent on reaching some tempting berries which were very large and highly colored. There was a friendly little hillock that would help me to reach them, so I stepped upon it. It was the front gate of the ants' citadel. I presume I broke down the gate and perhaps crushed in the entrance of the central chamber. Anyhow several hundred ant soldiers rushed out to punish me. The ants really do have soldiers trained and very efficient. They certainly were efficient on my legs. A score or two ran up each of my pants legs and began stinging and biting me. With a howl of pain I fled for the brook, which luckily was near by. Here I thrust my legs into a pool and drowned all the attacking army. When I went back for my berry-pail I found that several regiments of ants were drawn up about the gate of their citadel ready to defend it. But I had had enough, so I meekly took my berry-pail to another clump of bushes.
​Not only do the ants have soldiers which war upon other ants and bring back captives of which they make slaves, just as the Romans used to do in olden times, but they also have worker ants which do all the work. They build the underground tunnels, bring the food, feed the young and do all sorts of menial work. And speaking of food I must not forget to tell you of two very strange things concerning the ants' food. We all know that the ants' underground tunnels and granaries are all well supplied when the winter comes, but I do not think that many of you know that certain ants are bakers and that they make bread.
They gather a certain seed which is their favorite food. Then the slaves grind it up fine by chewing it. Finally it is kneaded into dough and formed into small cakes and placed in the sun to bake. When it is sufficiently baked it is put away in the underground storehouse for use in the winter. Other seeds are also stored away without baking them. But some of these seeds would sprout and that would spoil them for food were not the ant wise ​enough to prevent the seeds from sprouting. This they do in two ways. The first is to bite off the germ so that the seed cannot sprout. Or they will squirt a strong acid into the germ and that kills it. Thus the seed is kept nicely until they are ready to eat it.
Not only do the ants have soldiers and slaves, but they also have guests in their large underground houses. These are certain small crickets which they invite into their tunnels. They feed the crickets, wait upon them and give them the best that they have. They also sometimes invite small beetles to come and live with them. These guests they likewise treat with great dignity. Perhaps the principal reason why the ants love to entertain the beetle is that he gives off a pleasant perfume which they enjoy. So when the ant tunnel gets musty and does not smell sweet, one of the ants will go up to Mr. Beetle and gently stroke his head and he will at once take out the stopper of his scent bottle and the chamber is filled with the sweet perfume.
Still another very strange thing is the fact ​that the ants are herdsmen and that they keep cows. Or at least they keep little creatures which give them a sort of milk. These are the green flies known as Aphids.
The ants will catch these little flies and herd them in one of their ant pastures. Whenever the ant wants some milk he will tickle the fly and it at once gives up a sweet sticky milk of which the ant is very fond. In the autumn the ants will drive large droves of these cows into their underground stables where they will keep them and milk them all winter long. I have never heard of their making butter or cheese, but they certainly use the milk and it is an important part of their winter diet.
It is the red ants which make slaves of the black ants. The red ants are more warlike, so they get the best of the black ants.
A red queen who has been fertilized will go into a black ant colony. Here she will live in her cradle and lay a great many eggs. These will of course all hatch red ants. She will make the black ants take care of her eggs and also feed the young red ants until there are a ​lot of red ants in the black ant hill. Then the red ants will take charge and make slaves of all the black ants. They will send the black ant army away on the war path and it will come back with scores of black ant prisoners which will all be added to the slaves and workers of the red ant hill. Thus this hill which was originally a black ant hill will in time become a red ant hill or nest, and the black ants will all disappear. All of which illustrates the fact that we should be very careful as to whom we admit to our houses or we may let in the wolf.
These are a very few of the interesting facts about ants. Most of the facts are too technical to be treated in a short story like this. But with their armies and soldiers and slaves, their cows and their select guests, their wonderful building skill and their diligence I claim that the ants are the most interesting little people in the world.
My parting word to you is, "go to the ant, thou sluggard," and learn more of her wonderful ways. The ants certainly put to shame ​the efforts of man in almost any direction, when we consider how small they are and what they accomplish.