The Ploughboy 



if looking for something to locate it by. I was 

 the nearest object, and the thoughtful worker 

 buzzed in front of my face and took a good 

 stare at me, and then flew up on to the top of 

 an oak on the side of the open spot in the centre 

 of which the honey-box was. Keeping a keen 

 watch, after a minute or two of rest or wing- 

 cleaning, I saw it fly in wide circles round the 

 tops of the trees nearest the honey-box, and, 

 after apparently satisfying itself, make a bee- 

 line for the hive. Looking endwise on the line 

 of flight, I saw that what is called a bee-line 

 is not an absolutely straight line, but a line in 

 general straight made of many slight, wavering, 

 lateral curves. After taking as true a bearing 

 as I could, I waited and watched. In a few 

 minutes, probably ten, I was surprised to see 

 that bee arrive at the end of the outleaning 

 limb of the oak mentioned above, as though 

 that was the first point it had fixed in its mem- 

 ory to be depended on in retracing the way back 

 to the honey-box. From the tree-top it came 

 straight to my head, thence straight to the box, 

 [ 237 1 



