AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. 83 



oeneath the bits of empty comb or fragments of bark 

 and pass the night, and renew the feast next day 

 The bumble-bee is an insect of which the bee-huntei 

 sees much. There are all sorts and sizes of them 

 They are dull and clumsy compared with the honey- 

 bee. Attracted in the fields by the bee -hunter's box, 

 they will come up the wind on the scent and bkdder 

 into it in the most stupid, lubberly fashion. 



The honey-bees that licked up our leavings on the 

 old stub belonged to a swarm, as it proved, about 

 half a mile farther down the ridge, and a few days 

 afterward fate overtook them, and their stores in 

 turn became the prey of another swarm in the vi 

 cinity, which also tempted Providence and were over 

 whelmed. The first mentioned swarm I had lineA 

 from several points, and was following up- the clew 

 over rocks and through gulleys, when I came to where 

 a large hemlock had been felled a few years before 

 and a swarm taken from a cavity near the top of it; 

 fragments of the old comb were yet to be 3een. A 

 few yards away stood another short, squatty hemlock, 

 and I said my bees ought to be there. As I paused 

 near it I noticed where t l i tree had been wounded 

 vith an ax a couple of feet from the ground man/ 

 years before. The wound had partially grown over, 

 but there was an opening there that I did not see at 

 the first glance. I was about to pass on when a bee 

 passed me making that peculiar shrill, discordant 

 hum that a bee makes when besmeared with honey 

 I saw it alight in the partially closed wound and 



