VII ATER ACTING OUEENS V4 
fright, however, will not lead to desertion if the 
queen can be kept from flying, and can be induced 
to settle down again to cherish her brood—not an 
easy matter when the brood is very young. 
I had learnt these principles from the experience 
of former years, and they were carefully observed in 
my manipulations. I found the best time to open a 
domicile, should the queen be at home, was at dusk, 
for then she was disinclined to fly, and though she 
might be much excited she would soon settle down, 
and by morning, so far as one could tell, she had 
completely forgotten the incident. But I found it 
inadvisable and almost always unnecessary to open 
the domicile when the queen was at home. Such 
operations as destroying vermin, renewing nest 
material, and examining the brood, were carried 
out in full daylight when the queen was out. Ifa 
queen approached while I was doing something to her 
nest, I generally had time to put the nest back and 
close down the cover before she alighted, but rather 
than let her enter the cavity while it was still open 
and so discover, or even suspect, that her nest was 
being tampered with, I did not hesitate to frighten 
her off, although I often had considerable difficulty 
in doing so if the young were about to emerge. | 
often had to wait some time before seeing the queen 
depart from her nest, and, being busy, I used to 
ascertain if a queen was at home or not by rapping 
on the wooden cover, or, in the case of tin domiciles, 
on the tin lid. If she was there she would buzz. 
The rapping did not in any case cause desertion ; 
