212 NATURAL SWARMING. 
415. That bees send out scouts to seek a suitable abode, 
admits of no serious question. Swarms have been traced 
directly to their new home, in an air-line flight, from the 
place where they clustered after alighting. Now this pre- 
cision of flight to an unknown home, would plainly be im- 
possible, if some of their number, by previous explorations, 
were not competent to act as guides to the rest. The sight 
of bees for distant objects is so wonderfully acute, that, 
after rising to a sufficient elevation, they can see, at the 
distance of several miles, any prominent objects in the 
vicinity of their intended abode. (13-14.) 
Whether bees send out scouts before or after swarming, 
may admit of more question, but these scouts are usually 
absent for an hour or more, after the alighting of the swarm. 
It is probable that most of the scouts are sent during the 
alighting ; otherwise how could they know where the swarm 
alighted, so as to come back to it? 
The necessity for scouts or explorers seems to be un- 
questionable, unless we admit that bees have the faculty of 
flying in an ‘‘air line,’’ to a hollow tree, which they have 
never seen, and which may be the only one among thous- 
ands where they can find a suitable abode. 
These views are confirmed by the repeated instances in 
which a few bees have been noticed inquisitively prying 
into a hole in a hollcw tree, or the cornice of a building, and 
have, before long, been followed by a whole colony. 
About fifty yards from our home Apiary, there was a 
large hollow oak tree, which we called ‘‘The Squirrel’s 
Oak,’’ because every season it sheltered a family of these 
pretty animals. One Summer we noticed for several days 
some bees flying, in and out of a hole, in one of its largest 
limbs. It seemed to us that they were cleaning the hollow, 
and we supposed that a swarm had taken possession of it. 
A change in the weather having taken place, the swarming 
preparations were discontinued, and we never again noticed 
