v TAKING NESTS 89 
out, and one must take care to catch her without 
injuring her, and to put her with her children in the 
glass jar. She is generally easily secured, being 
often too heavy to fly, but should she take wing she 
will return sooner or later, though she will be rather 
wild and shy. If the colony is not in an advanced 
stage there will now be not a bee left in the nest, 
and one may boldly put in one’s hand and lift it out. 
If, however, some males and queens have emerged, 
a few of these will be present, but they will be 
inoffensive, seeking only to hide themselves by 
creeping into the nest material, or to escape by 
flight. The comb should be carefully placed in the 
box with a little moss to keep it from rolling about, 
but without any of the nest material, which is likely 
to contain parasites or their eggs. 
We may now turn our attention to the bees that 
were in the fields when we began operations, and 
which have been too shy to approach while we have 
been digging. If we step back a few paces they 
will gather round and, searching about, will soon 
find the nest material, impregnated with the odour 
of their nest. Alighting upon this, they may easily 
be caught. 
Many people are deterred from taking a humble- 
bees’ nest by the risk of stings; but really this is 
very small, and, if care is taken, may be ignored, 
except in the case of populous nests of B. terrestris 
and of B. muscorum, though with these only a little 
extra care and patience are needed. During the 
year 1911 I took nearly a hundred humble-bees’ 
