IHL ENEMIES OF OUR HO NET-BEE. 155 



animal; he would not come in the summer, when the 

 bees were in full vigour, as he knew in what manner he 

 would be received, but he steals slily to the hives when 

 the inhabitants are in a state of torpor, and thus obtains 

 their treasure without incurring any danger himself." 



Another enemy we need not fear, in our day at all events, 

 is the bear, He doubtless loves honey, and proves himself 

 a capital bee-hunter in the primeval forests of the far-west 

 of America. When a bee-tree is discovered, he will gnaw 

 at the hollow trunk for several days, until he has made a 

 hole sufficiently large to admit his enormous paws; then 

 he pulls out in one confused mass honey, bee-bread, wax, 

 and bees, and leisurely enjoys his feast. No wonder he is 

 fat, when he retires to some secure place, generally a 

 hollow elm-tree, lined most luxuriously with dried grass 

 and leaves in the autumn, and lies in a torpid state until 

 awakened by the warmth of the following spring. The 

 Abbe del Rocca mentions some singular traits of sagacity 

 regarding this animal. It appears the bear seldom attacks 

 a hive openly, for fear of the stings, but he will in a most 

 gentle manner take the hive in his paws and carry it out 

 to the first river or pond, in which he plunges it until all 

 the bees are drowned. The bee-keepers in those regions 

 in which the bear abounds, knowing his sly sagacity, chain 

 down their hives to the stand, or fasten them securely to 

 walls and tree-trunks, so that the bear, unable to carry 

 them away, will not molest them, except in the autumn, 

 when the bees are less active. 



Coming near home, rats and mice are undoubted 

 enemies of the honey-bee. When the bees are removed 

 to the shelter of a dry shed or outhouse, for the winter, 

 they should be frequently examined. In the summer 

 months it is but seldom that either rats or mice will ven- 

 ture to attack a vigorous colony, from the simple fact 

 that they would be roughly handled and rudely repulsed if 



