ATTRACTING QUEENS 121 



fright, however, will not lead to desertion if the 

 queen can be kept from flying, and can be induced 

 to settle down again to cherish her brood not an 

 easy matter when the brood is very young. 



I had learnt these principles from the experience 

 of former years, and they were carefully observed in 

 my manipulations. I found the best time to open a 

 domicile, should the queen be at home, was at dusk, 

 for then she was disinclined to fly, and though she 

 might be much excited she would soon settle down, 

 and by morning, so far as one could tell, she had 

 completely forgotten the incident. But I found it 

 inadvisable and almost always unnecessary to open 

 the domicile when the queen was at home. Such 

 operations as destroying vermin, renewing nest 

 material, and examining the brood, were carried 

 out in full daylight when the queen was out. If a 

 queen approached while I was doing something to her 

 nest, I generally had time to put the nest back and 

 close down the cover before she alighted, but rather 

 than let her enter the cavity while it was still open 

 and so discover, or even suspect, that her nest was 

 being tampered with, I did not hesitate to frighten 

 her off, although I often had considerable difficulty 

 in doing so if the young were about to emerge. I 

 often had to wait some time before seeing the queen 

 depart from her nest, and, being busy, I used to 

 ascertain if a queen was at home or not by rapping 

 on the wooden cover, or, in the case of tin domiciles, 

 on the tin lid. If she was there she would buzz. 

 The rapping did not in any case cause desertion ; 



