208 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



double the circumference of my preserved paragon. In 1865, 

 although the fruit was fully as plentiful, and the season 

 equally fine, there were scarcely any wasps' nests, and the few 

 we discovered were wretched weedy productions, scarcely de- 

 serving the name. 



As if in contrast to the wasps of 1865, the wild bees 

 throve amazingly. My boys found no fewer than nine 

 " binks " along the banks of the brooklet that feeds the duck- 

 pond. These hives comprised the yellow " foggy " bee, the 

 small and large humble-bee, and one hive of red-hipped bees. 

 In the evening we often removed the thatching, and inspected 

 the grubs and honeycomb of the foggy bees' hives. Some were 

 much more cross and dangerous when disturbed than their 

 neighbours; and it is a rule acted on by schoolboys, that 

 when wild bees hive under ground, and they fail to reach 

 them at the first digging, it is useless to attempt a second, for 

 the swarm will remove or destroy the honey on the first 

 alarm from the spade. 



It is a curious fact that honey-bees don't like the flowers 

 or heather of Tighnabruaich. They therefore fly across the 

 Kyles to Bute, and gather honey there. In returning laden, 

 however, they are unable to recross the sea, and multitudes 

 are found drowned. There is no honey to be had in Tighna- 

 bruaich in consequence. They thrive well in Bute, for, one 

 summer, my boys took a hive in the old tower of Kames 

 Castle full of splendid honey. 



Had more southern night-insects found their way to the 

 genial climate of Bute, they might probably have been fol- 

 lowed by the great bat Vespertilio altivolans of naturalists. 

 This night-flyer takes the same place among bats that swifts 

 do among swallows. Like that of swifts, their flight is 

 rapid and high, and the term of their appearance equally 

 short. I have watched them from Henley Bridge coursing 

 over the Thames among the other bats, which looked, in com- 

 parison, no bigger than butterflies. They shelter during the 



