12 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



never been known to do " a hand's turn." In recently 

 hived swarms, before any hone y i s stored up , drones may 

 be frequently^ seen stooping down to be fed b y working 

 bees ! Drones wanting to be fed place their feeding- 

 tubes alongside those of workers, and thus remain appar- 

 ently motionless while the pumping process goes on. 



But these idle gentlemen know the country geographi- 

 cally better than the working community. In fine weather 

 they take longer excursions into the country for pleasure 

 than working bees do for food. If a hive be removed in 

 fine weather two miles, some few bees and a great many 

 drones return to the old place. If removed three or four 

 miles, a considerable number of drones return, but no 

 workers. 



Comparatively useless in their lives, drones come to a 

 sorrowful end. What is termed the massacre of drones 

 seems a strangely cruel process. Well might a great 

 naturalist exclaim, — "The climax of drone-Hfeis wonder- 

 ful — a chapter of horrors, which clouds the harmony of 

 an otherwise beautiful system of insect-life." 



About fourteen days after the queen of a hive has been 

 fertilised, or some days after she has begun to lay, the 

 working bees begin to haul and maul the drones about. 

 Day by day the bees become more anxious to worry the 

 drones. Inside the hive the drones are driven from the 

 honeycombs, and may be found in heaps on the board 

 for days. Here they become weak from want of food ; 

 and when they leave the hive many of them have savage 

 tormentors on their backs. Some faU off the flight-board 

 so weak that they cannot fly ; but most of them die at a 

 distance, being unable to return. 



During weather unfavourable for honey-gathering, 

 drones and drone-brood are often destroyed. On the 

 appearance or prospect of hard times the bees destroy 

 these comparatively useless creatures and cast them out of 



