OLTR PETS. 159 



making acquaintance as it were with them.* In general, 

 they do not object to any one going qidetly up to the hive, 

 and sitting by them, to observe what they are doing ; they 

 seem universally good-tempered at swarming time, and also 

 when being fed ; but no doubt bees, like ourselves, have 

 fits of bad temper, without any reasonable cause that we 

 can discover, and it is prudent to keep out of the way at 

 such times. This state of feeling is generally made known 

 by one bee flying round the person with a shrill buzz, 

 quite different from the usual hum ; sometimes the little 

 scold is pacified if the intruder goes quietly off, but at 

 other times it will follow, flying round and round with 

 evident intentions of stinging. I am not quite sure whether 

 an attack of this seemingly capricious kind is made by a 

 bee in a bad humour, solely for its own gratification, or 

 whether it has been set to act as guard, and is merely 

 doing its duty. Give it the benefit of the doubt, and do 



* The following quaint account of the profit to be derived from 

 bees is found in a note in Bonner's " New Plan for Increasing the 

 Number of Bee-Hives in Scotland," published in 1795 : — " The 

 author's father, James Bonner, was, like himself, fond of rearing 

 bees, and often had a dozen of hives at a time in his garden. He 

 lived above fifty years in the married state, and had twelve children, 

 of whom the author is the youngest alive. He frequently boasted 

 that, in good seasons, he made as much money by his bees as nearly 

 to purchase oatmeal sufficient to serve his numerous family for the 

 whole year. He purchased a large quarto Bible with the wax pro- 

 duced in one year from his hives, which served as a family book 

 ever after; and his house was always well supplied with honey, 

 and a kind of weak mead, which served for drink at all seasons of 

 the year." 



