TAKING NESTS 89 



out, and one must take care to catch her without 

 injuring her, and to put her with her children in the 

 glass jar. She is generally easily secured, being 

 often too heavy to fly, but should she take wing she 

 will return sooner or later, though she will be rather 

 wild and shy. If the colony is not in an advanced 

 stage there will now be not a bee left in the nest, 

 and one may boldly put in one's hand and lift it out. 

 If, however, some males and queens have emerged, 

 a few of these will be present, but they will be 

 inoffensive, seeking only to hide themselves by 

 creeping into the nest material, or to escape by 

 flight. The comb should be carefully placed in the 

 box with a little moss to keep it from rolling about, 

 but without any of the nest material, which is likely 

 to contain parasites or their eggs. 



We may now turn our attention to the bees that 

 were in the fields when we began operations, and 

 which have been too shy to approach while we have 

 been digging. If we step back a few paces they 

 will gather round and, searching about, will soon 

 find the nest material, impregnated with the odour 

 of their nest. _ Alighting upon this, they may easily 

 be caught. 



Many people are deterred from taking a humble- 

 bees' nest by the risk of stings ; but really this is 

 very small, and, if care is taken, may be ignored, 

 except in the case of populous nests of B. terrestris 

 and of B. muscomm, though with these only a little 

 extra care and patience are needed. During the 

 year 191 1 I took nearly a hundred humble-bees' 



