146 THE HONEY-BEE. 



methods are of no avail, it will be better to remove 

 the colony to a distance, or to a dark cellar ; and by 

 taking care to secure ventilation, and to give a supply 

 of syrup, the community, which would otherwise 

 surely perish, may be rescued. If returned in three 

 or four days to its former stand, it is well to take the 

 precaution of placing a sloping board before the 

 entrance, so that its exact position may escape the 

 notice of would-be robbers. These can often be 

 detected early in their operations by their hovering 

 restlessly in front of a hive, without the courage to 

 settle, or, perhaps, because they do not know pre- 

 cisely where the opening is. A shower from a 

 watering-pot will sometimes send them about their 

 own proper business. 



Another method for stopping robber-bees from their 

 plundering is to put at night into the hive attacked 

 a small quantity of some strongly-smelling substance 

 a little musk, for example. The unwonted odour 

 seems to rouse the inhabitants, and if they have a 

 healthy queen, they will, in the morning, resolutely 

 meet the robbers. Moreover, if any of these get in, 

 the musk will so scent them that when they return 

 to their own hives they will not be recognised by 

 their own people, but will be put to death ; and thus 

 a double check is put on their depredations. 



It is a remarkable fact that, if a robbed colony be 

 queenless, or if the queen is killed in the melee, 

 survivors from the fight will often fall to on the 

 remnants of the stores, and, joining the forces of the 

 conquerors, will convey the honey to the hive whose 

 inhabitants are the plunderers, and will be peacefully 

 accepted as citizens among its population. Of course 



