138 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



hearing this sound. This peculiar swarming sound may 

 be produced merely by the great numbers of bees flying 

 idly, at such times, to and fro in the air ; but it seems 

 to me to differ in its character, as it certainly does in its 

 effect upon the bees, from the noise produced by the 

 ordinary flight of busy workers, however numerous. My 

 observations on this point, have satisfied me that those 

 Apiarians are mistaken who deny to the bee the sense of 

 hearing. This sense, on the contrary, seems to be acute. 



If the Apiarian fears that another swarm will issue, to 

 unite with the one he is hiving, he may confine its queen 

 with my movable-blocks ; or he may quickly envelope the 

 swarming hive with a sheet. If his new colony has been 

 shaken upon the swarming-sheet, he may cover it from 

 the sight of other swarms, with another sheet. 



The hive, with the new swarm, should be removed to 

 its permanent stand as soon as the bees have entered ; or 

 the scouts, on their return, will 'find them, and will 

 often entice them to flee to the woods. There is the more 

 danger of this, if the bees remained long on the tree be- 

 fore they were hived. I have almost invariably found 

 that swarms which abandon a suitable hive for the woods, 

 were hived near the spot where they clustered, the bee- 

 keeper intending to remove them in the evening, or early 

 next morning. Bees which swarm early in the day, will 

 generally begin to range the fields in a few hours after 

 they are hived, or even in a few minutes, if they have 

 empty comb ; and the fewest bees will be lost, when the 

 hive is removed to its permanent stand, as soon as the bees 

 have entered it. If it is desirable, for any reason, to re- 

 move the hive before all the bees have gone in, the sheet, 

 on which the bees are lying, may be so folded that the 

 colony can be easily carried to their new stand, where the 

 bees may enter at their leisure. 



