60 BEES. 



to fall to and fill themselves; this done, their next 

 thought is to carry it home, so they rise up slowly 

 through the branches of the trees till they have at- 

 tained an altitude that enables them to survey the 

 scene, when they seem to say, " Why, this is home," 

 and down they come again ; beholding the wreck and 

 ruins once more they still think there is some mis- 

 take, and get up a second or a third time and then 

 drop back pitifully as before. It is the most pathetic 

 sight of all, the surviving and bewildered bees strug- 

 gling to save a few drops of their wasted treasures. 



Presently, if there is another swarm in the woods, 

 robber-bees appear. You may know them by their 

 saucy, chiding, devil-may-care hum. It is an ill wind 

 that blows nobody good, and they make the most of 

 the misfortune of their neighbors ; and thereby pave 

 the way for their own ruin. The hunter marks their 

 course and the next day looks them up. On this oc- 

 casion the day was hot and the honey very fragrant, 

 and a line of bees was soon established S. S. W. 

 Though there was much refuse honey in the old stub, 

 and though little golden rills trickled down the hill 

 from it, and the near branches and saplings were be- 

 smeared with it where we wiped our murderous hands, 

 yet not a drop was wasted. It was a feast to which 

 'not only honey-bees came, but bumble-bees, wasps, 

 'yhornets, flies, ants. The bumble-bees, which at this 

 season are hungry vagrants with no fixed place of 

 abode, would gorge themselves, then creep beneath 

 the bits of empty comb or fragments of bark and 

 pass the night, and renew the feast next day. The 

 ibumble-bee is an insect of which the bee-hunter sees 

 much. There are all sorts and sizes of them. They 

 are dull and clumsy compared with the honey-bee^ 



