I have 2 curiosity questions about red ants:

1. When I dig in the dirt around our house, or out in the garden, I frequently dig up an red ant nest. I recently have seen literally hundreds of these "eggs", or more like cocoon-like shapes, much larger than the red ants themselves which look like a mummified larger ant. What are these? Are they winged ants, that will soon hatch?

2. Often I have seen what appears to be ants at war on the edge of our sidewalk or on the edge of our driveway - a small area, 6-8 inches x 3-4 inches will be covered with red ants, and it appears they are fighting, because there are a lot of dead ants. Am I indeed witnessing a battle between 2 nests, and is this common?