8WAKMING AND HIVING. 117 



alights first, and sometimes joins the cluster after it has 

 begun to form. The bees do not usually settle, unless 

 she is with them ; and when they do, and then disperse, 

 it is frequently the case that, after first rising with them, 

 she has fallen, from weakness, into some spot where she is 

 unnoticed by the bees. 



Perceiving a hive in the act of swarming, I, on two oc- 

 casions, contracted the entrance, to secure the queen when 

 she should make her appearance. In each case, at least 

 one-third of the bees came out before she joined them. 

 As soon as the swarm ceased searching for her, and were 

 returning to the parent-hive, being placed, with her 

 wings clipped, on a limb of a small evergreen tree, she 

 crawled to the very top of the limb, as if for the express 

 purpose of making herself as conspicuous as possible. The 

 few bees which first noticed her, instead of alighting, 

 darted rapidly to their companions ; in a few seconds, the 

 whole colony was apprised of her presence, and flying in 

 a dense cloud, began quietly to cluster around her. Bees 

 when on the wing intercommunicate with such surprising 

 rapidity, that telegraphic signals are scarcely more instan- 

 taneous. 



That bees send out scouts to seek a suitable abode, 

 admits of no serious question. Swarms have been traced 

 directly to their new home, in an air-line flight, either 

 from their hive, or from the place where they clustered 

 after alighting. Now this precision of flight to an un- 

 known home, would plainly be impossible, if some of their 

 number, by previous explorations, were not competent to 

 act as guides to the rest. The sight of bees for distant 

 objects is so wonderfully acute, that, after rising to a suffi- 

 cient elevation, they can see, at the distance of several 

 miles, any prominent objects in the vicinity of their in- 

 tended abode. 



