BEE-IIUNTING. 40 



stop its buzzing against the glass, and it 

 will soon discover the honey and load up. 

 Keep your eye on it ; and as soon as it is 

 really at work on the honey gently raise the 

 glass and creep away, where you may get a 

 good view of the proceedings. As soon as it 

 takes wing it will circle about the honey, as 

 a young bee does in front of the liive, that it 

 may know wliere to return ; for a whole 

 '• chunk" of honey, during the dry autumn 

 days, is quite a little gold-nnne in its esti- 

 mation. There may be a thousand or more 

 hungry mouths to feed, away in the forest 

 at its leafy home, for aught we know. 



If j'ou are quick enough to keep track of 

 the bee's eccentric circles and oscillations, 

 you will see that these circles become larger 

 and larger, and that each time the bee comes 

 round it sways to one side ; that is, instead 

 of making the honey the center of its cir- 

 cles, it makes it almost on one edge, so that 

 tlie last few times the bee comes round it 

 simply comes back after it has started home, 

 and throws a loop, as it were, about the 

 lioney to make sure of it for the last time. 

 JSow you can be pretty sure which way its 

 home lies almost the very first circuit it 

 makes, for it has its home in mind all the 

 time, and bears more and more toward it. 



If you can keep your eye on it until it 

 finally takes the ■•' bee-line" for home, you 

 do pretty well, for a new hand can seldom do 

 this. After the bee is out of sight, you have 

 only to wait until it comes back, which it 

 surely will do, if honey is scarce. Of course, 

 if its home is near by, it will get back soon ; 

 and to determine how far it is, by the length 

 of time the bee is gone, brings in another 

 very important point. The honey that bees 

 get from tlowers is very thin ; in fact, it is 

 nearer sweetened water than honey, and if 

 you wish a bee to load up and fly at about a 

 natural " gait," you should give it honey 

 diluted with water to about this consistency. 

 Unless you do, it will not only take a great 

 deal more time in loading up, but the thick 

 honey is so much heavier the bee will very 

 likely stagger under the load, and make a 

 wery crooked bee-line of' its homeward path. 

 IJesides, it will take much more time to un- 

 load. Sometimes, after circling about quite 

 a time, the bee will stop to take breath be- 

 fore going home, which is apt to mislead the 

 hunter unless he is experienced ; all this is 

 avoided by filling your honey-comb with 

 honey and water, instead of the honev alone. 



Now, it takes quite a little time to get a 

 bee caught and started at work ; and that 

 we may get busy, we will have several bees 



BEE-HUNTING. 



started at the same time. To do this expe- 

 ditiously, we will use a oee-hunting box 

 made as in the following cut. 



BOX FOR BEE-HUNTING. 



This is simply a light liox about 4i inches 

 square ; the bottom is left open, and the top 

 closed with a sheet of glass that slides easily 

 in saw-cuts made near the upper edge. 

 About a half-inch below the glass is a small 

 feeder quite similar to the one figured in 

 Feeding and Eeedeks. 



now TO USE THE HUNTING-BOX. 



Take with your box about a pint of diluted 

 honey in a bottle. If you fill the bottle half 

 full of thick honey, and then fill it up with 

 warm water, you will have it about right. In 

 the fall of the year you will be more likely 

 to find bees on the flowers in the early part 

 of the day. When you get on the ground, 

 near some forest, where you suspect the 

 presence of wild bees, pour a little of your 

 honey into the feeder, and cautiously set the 

 box over the first bee you find upon the 

 flowers. As soon as the box is well over the 

 flower, close the bottom with your hand, 

 and the bee will buzz up against the glass. 

 Catch as many as you wish, in the same way, 

 and they will soon be sipping the honey. 

 Before any have filled themselves, ready to 

 fly, place your box on some elevated point, 

 such as the top of a stump in an open space 

 in the field, and draw back the glass side. 

 Stoop down now, and be ready to keep your 

 eye on one bee whichever w'ay it may turn. 

 If you keep your head low, you will be more 

 likely to have the sky as a background. 

 If you fail in following one, you must try the 

 next ; and as soon as you get a sure line on 

 a bee as it bears finally for home, be sure 

 to mark it by some object that you can 

 remember; If you are curious to know how 

 long they are gone, you can, with some 



