AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE 61 



minute objects first, then the larger and more dis- 

 tant, till, having circled above the spot five or six 

 times and taken all its bearings, it darts away for 

 home. It is a good eye that holds fast to the bee 

 till it is fairly off. Sometimes one's head will 

 swim following it, and often one's eyes are put out 

 by the sun. This bee gradually drifts down the 

 hill, then strikes away toward a farmhouse half a 

 mile away where I know bees are kept. Then we 

 try another and another, and the third bee, much 

 to our satisfaction, goes straight toward the woods. 

 We could see the brown speck against the darker 

 background for many yards. The regular bee- 

 hunter professes to be able to tell a wild bee from a 

 tame one by the color, the former, he says, being 

 lighter. But there is no difference; they are both 

 alike in color and in manner. Young bees are 

 lighter than old, and that is all there is of it. If 

 a bee lived many years in the woods it would doubt- 

 less come to have some distinguishing marks, but 

 the life of a bee is only a few months at the far- 

 thest, and no change is wrought in this brief time. 



Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, 

 for we have touched the box here and there with 

 the cork of a bottle of anise oil, and this fragrant 

 and pungent oil will attract bees half a mile or 

 more. When no flowers can be found, this is the 

 quickest way to obtain a bee. 



It is a singular fact that when the bee first finds 

 the hunter's box, its first feeling is one of anger; it 

 is as mad as a hornet; its tone changes, it sounds 



