264 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



until they have tested the strength of every hive. Even 

 if all the colonies are able to defend themselves, many 

 bees will be lost in these encounters, and much time 

 wasted ; for bees, whether engaged in robbing, or battling 

 against the robbery of others, lose both the disposition 

 and the ability to engage in useful labors.* 



By keeping the movable entrance-blocks of my hives 

 very close together, when a colony is feeble, if thieves try 

 to slip in, they are almost sure to be overhauled and put 

 to death ; and if robbers are bold enough to attempt to 

 force an entrance, as the bottom-board slants forward, 

 it gives the occupants -of the hive a decided advantage. 

 If any succeed in entering, they find hundreds standing 

 in battle-array, and fare as badly as a forlorn hope that 

 has stormed the walls of a beleaguered fortress, only to 

 perish among thousands of enraged enemies. 



By putting these blocks before the entrance of a hive 

 which has ceased to offer any effectual resistance, the 

 dispirited colony will often recover heart, and drive off 

 their assailants. 



When bees are actively engaged in robbing, they sally 

 out with the first peep of light, and often continue their 

 depredations until it is so late that tliey cannot find the 

 entrance to their hive. When robbing has become a 

 habit, they are sometimes so infatuated with it as to 

 neglect their own brood ! 



The cloud of robbers arriving and departing need 



* If the Apiarian would guard his bees against dishonest courses, he must be 

 exceedingly careful, in his various operations, not to leave any combs where 

 strange bees can find them (see note, p. 172) ; for, after once getting a taste of 

 stolen honey, they will hover round him as soon as they see him operating on a 

 hive, all ready to pounce upon it and snatch what they can of its exposed 

 treasures. 



Some bee-keepers question whether a bee that once learns to steal ever returns 

 to honest courses. I have known the value of an Apiary to be so seriously im- 

 paired by the bees beginning early in the season to rob each other, that the owner 

 was often tempted to wish that he had never seen a bee. 



