226 THE APIARY. 



climbing the wall, thereby gaining a view of the third 

 garden, we perceived in it unmistakable signs of an 

 unwonted commotion. The occupiers of the house were 

 intently looking at a particular part of the garden, and 

 there was a dust-pan and a key, with which the master 

 had been "tanging the bees," to induce them to settle. 

 We quickly made for the proper entrance to the garden, 

 and soon discovered our little wanderers clustered to 

 a large flower-vase. Our neighbours, however, were 

 sadly disappointed of their prize, for the gardener had 

 hastily been dispatched into the town to purchase a hive 

 for the welcome colonists. In depriving our neighbours 

 ■of a so imexpected and cheaply-acquired treasure, we 

 could sympathise with their regret, having been much 

 disheartened half an hour before at our own loss ; but, 

 .of course, we could do no other than claim our own 

 bees. We gladly agreed to defray the expense of the 

 straw hive that had been purchased for the sake of our 

 truant swarm. After brushing the bees into the hive, 

 and leaving it propped up with a stick, in order that the 

 stray ones might join, we returned home for an hour or 

 50, to give them time to settle. Judge of our vexation 

 when, on returning to fetch the hive home, we found that 

 the refractory creatures had again taken flight, and that 

 all the work was to do over again. The wasps were 

 not to blame for this second flight of, the Ligurians ; we 

 judged that the swarm had been disturbed by visits from 

 a colony of bees that we discovered were living the life 



