THE COURAGE OF BEES. 33 



a queenless hive. As soon as she was discovered, the bees 

 came out in a continual stream for some time, heaping 

 themselves upon her to keep her warm and restore anima- 

 tion. This they accomplished in a short time, and safely 

 guided her into the hive. 



The ingenuity of bees is strikingly evident when they 

 are at work on a windy day. In calm weather they fly 

 straight on their journeys to and from the fields ; but 

 when the wind is high, they seek the shelter of houses, 

 banks, and fences. Often have we seen them flying at 

 great speed along open drains and ditches, and in this 

 way escaping the violence of the wind. And when it be- 

 comes necessary for them to leave their sheltered course, 

 they rise like a rocket, and dive again into the most 

 sheltered way. Last August, I placed twenty-five hives 

 near a cutting on one of our lines of railway. On a windy 

 day the bees used this sheltered part pretty freely — indeed 

 so freely that one of the guards told the station-master that 

 he had just passed a swarm of bees going down the line. 



THE COURAGE OF BEES. 



Cowardice is not an element of their nature ; they fear 

 no foe and shrink from no danger. Being furnished with 

 weapons of defence, they know how to use them. I say 

 defence, for that is the proper word. "When bees attack 

 anybody or anything, it is owing to some molestation 

 received in act or appearance. The bees of hives placed 

 near a peopled thoroughfare, or in a garden in which men, 

 women, and children are often moving about, become as 

 quiet and peaceable as cocks and hens. They are really 

 domesticated, and will not annoy us if we do not annoy 



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