1896-97-] Bees: A Yearns Work in the Hive. 213 



minutes, and all flying in a cloud about one's head. The sight is enough 

 to make one who never saw it before wonder what has gone wrong with 

 the bees, and very likely to wish he were farther from them. But bees 

 rarely sting during swarming. After flying about for a short time, they 

 will begin to collect about a particular point, such as a tree or a bush, or 

 any kind of plant which rises a few feet above the ground. If the queen 

 is among them, they will generally hang in a large cluster until the bee- 

 keeper puts them in a skep or hive, which is usually clone by shaking 

 them off the branch into the hive, and then turning up the hive and 

 putting it on a board near where they were hanging, when all the bees 

 still flying about will very soon enter the hive. Swarming has brought us 

 into June. 



June. — This month in Scotland is often a swarming month, but when 

 the first swarm came off at the end of last month, the second will probably 

 come now (seconds do not always come, although sometimes a third will 

 also come). About a week after the first come off, by listening at the hive 

 in the evening the queens will be heard " piping," or emitting curious 

 sounds, which always seem to me to be a challenge to fight. This they 

 would very soon do if they could get at each other, but the bees will not 

 allow that. If there is to be another swarm, only one of the young queens 

 is allowed out of the cell, and the others are detained, a bee sitting over 

 the mouth to keep them in. 



Julxj. — If the weather is fine, this is a time when the storing of honey 

 goes on at a great rate. In a strong swarm they will collect from 4 to 6 

 lb. a-day. Toward the end of the month the drones will be turned out of 

 the hive by the workers, and allowed to perish from hunger and cold. 

 Two bees may be seen coming out of the hive, one on each side, holding 

 on to the wings of the poor drone, which they very soon push over the 

 flight-board. 



August. — At the beginning of this month some honey will yet be stored ; 

 but towards the end of it, if honey becomes scarce from several swarms 

 being about, the bees will take to robbing one another. A bee will go to 

 another hive and try to slip in by the side of the entrance ; and if he can 

 evade the sentinels which are always posted about, he will soon come out 

 with a good load of stolen honey. If once an entrance is secured to a hive, 

 the bees of that hive seem to become quite demoralised, and give up to a 

 great extent trying to defend their stores. With bees the rule seems to be, 

 Get honey — honestly if you can, but in whatever way, get honey ! This 

 the strong swarms do by robbing their weaker neighbours ; and they do 

 not take a little, but clear them out of everything they possess. 



September, October, November. — The bees now prepare for winter by 

 closing up every crack or hole in the hive except the entrance, which they 

 do with a gummy substance collected off the buds of trees. 



Very much might still be said about bees, but I must now 

 bring my remarks to a close, and may have something more to 

 tell about these most interesting and industrious creatures at 

 another time. 



