THE IIIBTORY OF A HUMBLE-BEE. 



167 





FIG. 56. — MATTRASS-MAKING. — " TUCKING UP THE TUFTS OF 

 UPnOLSTERT." 



monotonous, steady hum. Her secretiveness at this time 

 is immensely developed, and the slightest suspicion of 

 being watched will send her far off with an eager, angry 

 flight. She will never dig an inch of soil as long as she 

 sees any suspicious object, and will often make her way 

 under a tuft of herbage, and remain there concealed 

 until, she fancies that danger has passed. 



" Her resting place is frequently selected in the 

 abandoned nest of a field mouse ; sometimes beneath an 

 old stump ; sometimes, as with our nest, she sinks a 

 tube directly into the sod, and avails herself of the 

 burrow of a mole, either before or after, to secure 

 entrance and exit to and from the cave which she digs. 



