166 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



discontented with the grind of daily toil, and so 

 begin robbing their neighbours. 



HOW THE ROBBING IS DONE 



The robber, unless she be hardened by success, 

 alights on the threshold of the hive which contains 

 coveted stores with an air that is decidedly apolo- 

 getic, having the general appearance of a prospecting 

 dog with his tail apprehensively between his legs. 

 She shows her guilty conscience by dodging back if 

 she meets one of the legitimate owners coming out 

 of the hive; she is thus trying the skill and prowess of 

 the sentinels, for if by assuming bravado she can pass 

 the sentinels she is usually safe ; then she has nothing 

 to do but to fill with honey and to run the gauntlet 

 of the sentinels again, for perchance some of them 

 may stop her and ask her why she is going out of the 

 hive filled with honey, a proceeding altogether 

 reprehensible in the bee world. If she succeeds in 

 carrying back to her own hive the honey thus 

 stolen, she creates great excitement there and soon 

 she leads back a mob to pillage; and the air is full 

 of bees bent on wickedness. Mr. Root describes 

 graphically the successful robber thus: *'A bee 

 that has stolen a load is generally very plump and 

 full, and as it comes out has a hurried and guilty 

 look; besides it is almost always wiping its mouth 

 like a man who has just come out of a beer shop. 

 Most of all it finds it a little difficult to take wing as 

 bees ordinarily do because of its weight." As a 

 consequence a robber bee borne down w^ith its load 



