BEES AND THE WEATHER 115 



hive hanging close to each other. Often I have 

 known the weather so bad after swarms came out 

 that they had to be fed or they would have starved, 

 and in natural circumstances they would do so. 



Then again, many old bee-keepers will tell us 

 that bees do not go foraging in any numbers, 

 however fine the morning may be, unless it is 

 going to be a fine day. They say, in fact, that 

 if bees fly out in great numbers in the morning, 

 however dull it may be, the day will be fine. 

 This is founded on altogether a wrong basis. 

 Practically the only things which affect the egress 

 of the bees are temperature and abundance of 

 honey. When the hive is warm, more bees are 

 able to go out, and, other things being equal, more 

 go when the sun is shining than when the sky 

 is overcast. If bees are seen leaving in large 

 numbers on a dull morning, it may be taken for 

 granted that there is an abundant flow of honey 

 on somewhere and they are determined to lose no 

 time in getting it. Often I have known bees 

 going out like this in the morning, working with 

 tremendous energy, and the afternoon to be 

 pouring wet. Again, on a sunny day, if a cloud 

 comes up and covers the sun, bees will race home 

 from the fields as hard as they can, the noise of 

 their returning wings being so great that I have 

 sometimes been deluded into the idea that they 

 were swarming. 



Some time back I made a long series of observa- 



