ROBBING AND HOW PREVENTED. 361 



The cloud of robbers arriving and departing need never 

 be mistaken for honest laborers (174) carrying, with un- 

 wieldy flight, their heavy burdens to the hive. These bold 

 plunderers, as they enter a hive, are almost as hungry-look- 

 ing as Pharaoh's lean kine, while, on coming out, they show 

 by their burly looks that, like aldermen who have dined at 

 the expense of the city, they are stuffed to their utmost 

 capacity. 



668. When robbing-bees have fairly overcome a colony, 

 the attempt to stop them — by shutting up the hive, or by 

 moving it to a new stand — if improperly conducted, is often 

 far more disastrous than allowing them to finish their work. 

 The air will be quickly filled with greedy bees, who, unable 

 to bear their disappointment, will assail, with almost fran- 

 tic desperation, some of the adjoining hives. In this way, 

 the strongest colonies are sometimes overpowered, or thous- 

 ands of bees slain in the desperate contest. 



How TO Stop Robbino. 



When an Apiarist perceives that a colony is being 

 robbed, he should contract the entrance (339), and, if 

 the assailants persist in forcing their way in, he must close 

 it entirely. In a few minutes the hive will be black with 

 the greedy cormorants, who wiU not abandon it till they 

 have attempted to squeeze themselves through the smallest 

 openings. Before they assail a neighboring colony, they 

 should be thoroughly sprinkled with cold water, which will 

 somewhat cool their ardor. 



Unless the bees, that were shut up, can have an abund- 

 ance of air, they should be carried to a cool, dark place, 

 after the Apiarist has allowed the robbers to escape out 

 of it. Early the next morning they must be examined, 

 and, if necessary, united to another hive. 



