152 THE BEE keeper's MANUAL. 



convenience of the queen over fatigued by the excitement 

 of swarming, or for any other reason, they should see fit to 

 cluster, then we should ^xpect that only a transient tarry- 

 ing would be allowed. Instead of this, they often remain 

 until the next day, and instances of a more protracted de- 

 lay are not unfrequent. The cases which occur, of bees 

 stopping in their flight, and clustering again on any conve- 

 nient object, are not inconsistent with this view of the sub- 

 ject ; for if the weather is hot, and the sun shines directly 

 upon them, they will often leave before they have found 

 a suitable habitation ; and even when they are on the 

 way to their new home, the queen being heavy with 

 eggs, and unaccustomed to fly, is sometimes from wear- 

 iness, compelled to alight, and her colony clusters around 

 her. Queens, under such circumstances, sometimes seem 

 unwilling to entrust themselves again to their wings, and the 

 poor bees attempt to lay; the foundations of their colony, on 

 fence rails, hay-stacks, or other most unsuitable places. 



I have been informed by Mr. Henry M. ZoUickoffer of 

 Philadelphia, a very intelligent and reliable observer, that 

 he knew a swarm to settle on a willow tree in that city, in 

 a lot owned by the Pennsylvania Hospital ; it remained 

 there for sometime, and the boys pelted it with stones, to get 

 possession of its comb and honey. 



The absolute necessity for scouts or explorers, is evident 

 from all the facts in the case, unless we admit that bees 

 have the faculty of flying in an air-line to a hollow tree, or 

 some suitable abode which they have never seen, though ' 

 they cannot find their hive, if, in their absence, it is moved 

 only a few rods from its former position. 



These obvious considerations are abundantly confirmed 

 by the repeated instances' in which a few bees have been 

 noticed prying very inquisitively into a hole in a hollow tree 



