: TAKING NESTS 87 
which of these she will do I generally capture her 
in one of the glass jars that I have in readiness, 
clapping the cardboard over its mouth. This jar I 
stand in a convenient place on level ground about a 
yard away and place a stone or lump of earth on 
the cover to prevent the wind blowing it off. Con- 
tinuing to dig out the hole, it is not long before I 
am greeted by another worker from the nest; she 
is promptly captured in the other jar; this jar is 
then placed, mouth downwards, on top of the first 
jar, the two cards drawn out and the two jars given 
a vigorous shake; this causes the bee in the upper 
jar to drop into the lower jar containing her comrade ; 
one of the cards is then quickly slipped over the 
mouth of the lower jar and the stone replaced on it. 
Thus all the bees that come out are caught, one by 
one, in one of the jars, and collected in the other 
jar. The process of securing the bees in this way 
is not so laborious as it may seem, and one soon 
gets quite skilled and quick at it, so much so that it 
becomes easy to catch two, sometimes three, bees at 
a time. 
Bees that lie on their backs will often grasp and 
cling to a corner of the card if it be presented to 
them. The edge of the card may then be struck 
sharply against the rim of the jar, with the result 
that the bee falls into the jar. 
The nest is generally a foot and a half to two 
feet from the entrance and about fifteen inches deep, 
but some are a yard or more from the entrance and 
very deep. To dig up deep nests a spade saves 
