TAKING NESTS 87 



which of these she will do I generally capture her 

 in one of the glass jars that I have in readiness, 

 clapping the cardboard over its mouth. This jar I 

 stand in a convenient place on level ground about a 

 yard away and place a stone or lump of earth on 

 the cover to prevent the wind blowing it off. Con- 

 tinuing to dig out the hole, it is not long before I 

 am greeted by another worker from the nest ; she 

 is promptly captured in the other jar ; this jar is 

 then placed, mouth downwards, on top of the first 

 jar, the two cards drawn out and the two jars given 

 a vigorous shake ; this causes the bee in the upper 

 jar to drop into the lower jar containing her comrade ; 

 one of the cards is then quickly slipped over the 

 mouth of the lower jar and the stone replaced on it. 

 Thus all the bees that come out are caught, one by 

 one, in one of the jars, and collected in the other 

 jar. The process of securing the bees in this way 

 is not so laborious as it may seem, and one soon 

 gets quite skilled and quick at it, so much so that it 

 becomes easy to catch two, sometimes three, bees at 

 a time. 



Bees that lie on their backs will often grasp and 

 cling to a corner of the card if it be presented to 

 them. The edge of the card may then be struck 

 sharply against the rim of the jar, with the result 

 that the bee falls into the jar. 



The nest is generally a foot and a half to two 

 feet from the entrance and about fifteen inches deep, 

 but some are a yard or more from the entrance and 

 very deep. To dig up deep nests a spade saves 



