356 THE BEE. 



identifies the insect, by the flour which he has sprinkled 

 upon its back, and judges of the distance of the hive, by 

 the time it has taken the bee to go to it, and return. An 

 experienced bee hunter, will in this manner judge with 

 great accuracy. The boy having thus ascertained the 

 direction of the hive, and having formed some estimate 

 of its distance, proceeds till he supposes he has gone 

 far enough, and then if he does not find the hive he 

 again seeks a bee and repeats the experiment. Perhaps 

 the next bee he finds flies in a very different direction 

 from the first. This informs him that the second bee 

 belongs to some other hive. And thus he has the trace 

 of two hives. By one or two such experiments he is al- 

 most invariably conducted to the treasure for which he is 

 in search. Having found the hive, he marks the place and 

 returns home. * Sometimes the honey hunters, set a 

 plate of honey or sugar upon the ground, and in a short 

 time this is discovered by the wild bees. Having caught 

 two or three of those that have taken their fill, the hun- 

 ter first releases one, which rising into the air, flies 

 straight to the nest. He now walks at right angles to 

 the course of the bee, for a few hundred yards, and then 

 lets another go, which also after rising, flies to the nest. 

 Observing with his pocket compass, the angle where the 

 two lines formed by the two courses of the bees meet, 

 there he knows will be the sp.jt, at which the nest is 

 placed.' 



A few years ago I was in the north-western part of the 

 state of Maine, and hearing of a party who were going 

 out to take a nest, which l»ad previously been found, I 

 accompanied them. Four or five men with axes and 

 pails, and materials for striking fire, set out in a damp 

 and cloudy afternoon. Af^er groping our way over 

 stumps and logs and through thick woods for about a mile, 

 we came to an old and partially decayed tree of unusual 

 size. One of the men pointing towards the top of the 

 tree, said, " there's the nest." About thirty feet from the 

 ground I could just perceive a few bees hovering about 

 the hole through which they found their way into the 

 hollow of the decayed tree. Having decided in what 



