AMONGST THE BEES AT WORK 85 



The moment, however, that the sun conies out 

 the whole bank is full of life ; and just as in the 

 case of the sallow bush, one wonders where it 

 has all been during the shadow. Bees will now 

 be seen flying home laden with pollen ; they will 

 pause at the opening of their burrow and then 

 disappear suddenly into its depths. In a very 

 short time they will reappear quite clean and 

 ready for another journey. Their cleaning appa- 

 ratus must be wonderfully well adapted to its 

 purpose. I have often had to remove the pollen 

 from a bee's leg to see what colour the hairs are, 

 and it takes some time even to brush enough of 

 it off to ascertain this, and yet the natural clean- 

 ing process seems to take no time in comparison. 

 But to return to our bank, numbers of bees will 

 be seen coursing up and down and hardly ever 

 settling ; these are males paying what attention 

 they can to any females who have time to attend 

 to them, and often falling foul of other males 

 intent on similar pursuits. If one has good luck 

 in the choice of one's bank an elegant wasp-like 

 creature may occasionally be seen amongst the 

 others ; this is one of the cuckoos. The flight 

 of all the cuckoo bees is peculiar ; it is much 



