26 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



reigning queen during this time is seeking an opportunity 

 of killing her rivals, but the working bees ward ofif her 

 attempts to get at her sisters ; and they too are securely 

 watched and kept in their cells. If the weather be fa^ 

 vourable on the fourth day after the piping began, a second 

 swarm will issue from the hive, taking with it the queen 

 which called " Peep, peep." Now one of the princesses 

 kept in confinement for three days is permitted to take 

 the place of her sister. She in her turn calls " Pa-ay, 

 pa-ay ; " and if the responsive bark of " Oflf, off " be con- 

 tinued, a third swarm may be expected on the following 

 day, or, at latest, the day after that. Third and fourth 

 swarms have been known to issue from a hive in one day. 

 Third and fourth swarms are not very common ; for the 

 bees of most hives- find that two swarms in a fortnight 

 are enough to send oflf — and sometimes they cannot afford 

 to do that. To prevent second swarms leaving, the bees 

 adopt signal measures. As soon as the first princess is 

 born, and commences to "pipe," they hush her into silence 

 at once. Before she gets one " pa-ay " half uttered, the 

 bees prevent her from going on with it. In stopping her, 

 they make a sound like the word " hush " spoken by the 

 human voice. The supernumerary princesses are killed 

 and cast out of the hive. 



It has been already said that the usual time of piping 

 for second swarms is three days and nights ; but it ought 

 to be stated that when the weather prevents swarming, and 

 the bees are bent on swarming, the piping will be con- 

 tinued for some days longer. I have known it continued 

 for seven days ; and during those seven days not one of 

 the princesses ever closed an eye in sleep. The piping of 

 the queens, and their deadly hatred of one another, are 

 two of the interesting and striking features of bee-history. 

 Two old queens or two young ones — it matters not whether 



