224 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



faculty is strongly developed; but she seems to 

 have very little else. Her first experiences are a 

 succession of blunders. She appears not to know 

 for certain where to look for the coveted sweets, 

 and can be seen industriously searching the most 

 unlikely places — crevices in walls, tufts of grass, 

 or the leaves of a plant instead of its flowers. 

 The fact that the nectar is hidden deep down in 

 the cup of the flower, beyond its pollen-bearing 

 mechanism, seems to dawn upon her only after 

 much thought and many fruitless essays. 



It has been proved that bees will go as far as 

 two or even three miles in their foraging journeys. 

 The distance seems to vary according to the nature 

 of the country. Bees in hilly districts appear to 

 venture only short distances from home, while in 

 flat country the foraging flights are more extended. 

 A bee-line has become proverbial for a straight 

 course, but it is doubtful whether the bee ever 

 makes a perfectly direct flight from point to point. 

 The truth seems to be that there are well-defined 

 air-paths out from and home to every bee-garden, 

 and that these are continually thronged with bees 

 going and returning throughout the working hours 

 of the day. These aerial thoroughfares lie high 

 above all but the tallest obstacles, so high indeed 

 that the keenest sight will reveal nothing. Only 

 the busy song of the travellers can be heard, like 

 a river of music, far overhead. 



In the South Downcountry, where the isolated 



