40 ROBBING. 



knows no bounds, and they will sting any and every moving 

 thing within a reasonable distance of their hives. In the 

 search for more food they try the entrances of all the hives ; 

 the weakest is attacked, and if not protected without delay, 

 the queen and bees are killed, and the honey is carried off. 

 The' robbing soon becomes general, and, if allowed to con- 

 tinue, an astounding scene of confusion ensues. The pro- 

 prietor of apiary of twenty-two stocks, in Cambridgeshire, 

 relates that recently one of his weak stocks was attacked and 

 robbed, and the robbing continued for several days, at the,, 

 end of which one stock alone survived. If signs of robbing 

 are seen, the entrance should be contracted to about half an 

 inch, and outside of, and leading up to it, two slips of wood 

 a quarter-inch in thickness, should be placed, with a piece of 

 slate over them, so as to form a sort of tunnel, through 

 which robbers seldom care to pass, as if not knowing what 

 resistance might be met at the other end. To make this 

 tunnel part and parcel of the hive, some makers fit their 

 hives with the Cheshire zig-zag entrance-slides, by means of 

 which the entrance can in an instant be contracted to a zig- 

 zag tunnel, which inspires the defenders with great confi- 

 dence, and enables them to repel any attack, provided it 

 has not been going on too long, in which case it may be 

 necessary to cover the entrance with perforated zinc, which 

 should be removed in the evening just after the bees have 

 ceased flying; and if a further attack is feared, it can be re- 

 placed in the morning just before the bees begin to fly for 

 the day. As a rule, robber bees cease to attack a hive 

 almost directly they find that it is resolutely defended. The 

 signs of robbing are — a great confusion about the flight- 

 board, the bees on coming out of the hive, instead of taking 

 wing at once, walk up to the hive front, as if to get a better 

 start, and a heap, small or large, as the case may be, of dead 

 and dying bees on the ground in front of the hive. When 

 these are noticed, prompt action alone can save the stock. 



