HUNTING THE HONEY-BEE 251 



truly? The hunter takes no great pains to get her 

 course this first trip. He places the comb on the 

 closed Hd of the box, replenishes its cells from a 

 vial of syrup, lights his pipe, and disposes himself 

 comfortably to watch the return of his sometime 

 captive. The length of time he has to wait for 

 this depends partly on the distance the bee has to 

 go and partly on the wealth of her swarm, the 

 members of a swarm with a scanty store of honey 

 working faster than those of a rich one. 



But soon or late she comes humming back, and, 

 beating about a little, finds the lure and settles 

 upon it, fills herself, rises, circles, and is away 

 again. Now the hunter tries his best to catch her 

 course, and it needs a quick and practiced eye to 

 follow the brown speck as it gyrates wildly over- 

 head for a moment and then darts away on the 

 "bee-line," straight and swift as an arrow. Some- 

 times he gets rid of the uncomfortable twisting of 

 the neck which such rapid eye-following requires 

 when sitting or standing, by lying on his back near 

 the box. 



The bee has told her people of the easily gotten 

 nectar, and, when next returning, brings a com- 

 panion with her, and at each return perhaps an- 

 other, till, maybe, a dozen are busy about the 

 comb, and, as each flies homeward, the hunter 

 strives to get its line of flight. Having this line 

 pretty well established, if their journeys are evi- 



