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interval of absence may be short or long, but is usually long 
enough to enable the bee- keeper to secuie his swarm and 
to remove it from the neighbourhood of the bush on which 
it is clustered, and which was duly marked by the scouts. 
If it is inconvenient to hive the swarm at once, the skep, or 
other receptacle used to contain it temporarily, ought to be 
shifted from the neighbourhood of the bush, so that the scouts 
may not be able to find it on their return. 
How Bees find their Hives. 
It is known that the bees of a stock range the country 
in every direction fot a distance of about 24 miles, so that 
the area covered exceeds 12,000 acres. How then do the 
bees manage to find their way back to their own hive’ It 
has been sussested that bees and homing pigeons and certain 
other animals possess a special sense—‘“ homing instinct "—or 
sense of direction—which is represented very poorly, it at 
all, in the human species. The practical bee-keeper is aware, 
however, that bees do not need any special extraordinary sense 
for locating their home. The behaviour of a stock of bees 
liberated in a new situation is very characteristic. They issue 
cautiously from the hive, fly in front of it with their heads 
towards it, obviously observing minutely the appearance of 
their hive, and the objects in its immediate neighbourhood. The 
area of their flight gradually increases until tinally they are 
high up in the air describing great circles, evidently observing 
the greater landmarks—a big tree, a church spire, a prominent 
building, a stretch of water. The cloud of bees which has 
been darting about in every direction over a wide area is now 
seen to gradually condense and again to enter the hive. Their 
observations have been made, their new situation located, 
and they are now ready to proceed on a foraging expedition. 
A stock of bees sent by steamer on a journey, which took 
three days to complete, was liberated on arrival. Within 
45 minutes bees with full loads of pollen were seen entering 
the hive. It had taken the strangers just three quarters of 
an hour to locate the pesition of their home, and to tind the 
