8 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



from the hive, preceded by many, and accompanied by the 

 majority of the workers, who have previously filled their crops 

 with honey, and by some drones. Great excitement possesses the 

 creatures, and they fly agitatedly round, emitting a characteristic 

 note readily recognisable by the bee-keeper. This occurrence 

 usually takes place in the earlier part of the summer, on a fine 

 sunny morning. At length the bees begin to gather in a great 

 cluster upon a branch of a neighbouring tree on which the " queen " 

 has settled though sometimes they will fly to a great distance 

 before alighting, and here they may hang for several hours. 

 At this stage they may be secured without difficulty and con- 

 veyed to a hive. In default of this attention the swarm sooner 

 or later will fly off and take up its quarters in a hollow tree, the 

 roof of a house, or some other suitable situation. In the parent 

 hive from which the swarm have come a young " queen " soon 

 emerges from her cell. She may be allowed by the workers to 

 slay all her sister " queens " that are as yet not free, but if the 

 stock is a strong one the slaughter is not permitted, and a second 

 swarm or " cast " issues from the hive on the ninth day after 

 the first swarm. After about a week she flies forth from the 

 hive on her " nuptial flight/* and mates with a drone while in 

 the air. This feat accomplished, she returns to the hive and 

 soon begins her task of egg-laying. The drone dies very shortly 

 after pairing. A " queen " is capable of laying as many as 

 2000 to 4000 eggs in a single day. Her length of life may 

 amount to five years, though but one act of mating is sufficient 

 for the fertilisation of the eggs produced during the whole 

 period. 



There is no difficulty in keeping a hive of bees in an ordinary 

 room under such conditions that all the internal arrangements 

 of the community are readily visible. " Observatory hives " 

 are usually made narrow, so that only one comb stands at any 

 one level, though there may be two or three combs placed one 

 above the other. It is thus possible to see both sides of every 

 comb. The sides of the hive are made of glass, usually double, 

 in order to retain the warmth ; while the outside is covered 

 with movable doors or thick curtains to exclude the light. The 

 bees pass in and out along a tunnel whose inner end enters the 



