Bees and Hornets 16 



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are believed to work more energetically when this is the 

 case, and they certainly do seem to exhibit signs of 

 annoyance, as if out of temper, if they get entangled in a 

 bush. Indeed, if you chance to be pursued by an angry 

 cloud of bees whose ire you have aroused, the only safe 

 place is a hedge or bush, into which make haste to thrust 

 yourself, when the boughs and leaves will baffle them. If 

 the hive be moved to a different place, the bees that chance 

 at the time to be out in the fields collecting honey, upon 

 their return, finding their home gone, are evidently at a 

 loss. They fly round, hovering about over the spot for a 

 long time before they discover the fresh position of the hive. 



The great hornet, with its tinge of reddish orange, 

 comes through the garden sometimes with a heavy buzz, 

 distinguishable in a moment from the sound of any other 

 insect. All country folk believe the hornet's sting to be 

 the most poisonous and painful of any, and will relate 

 instances of persons losing the use of their arms for a few 

 days in consequence of the violent inflammation. Some- 

 times the hornet selects for its nest an aperture in an old 

 shed near the farmhouse. I have seen their nests quite 

 close to houses ; but, unless wantonly disturbed, there is 

 not the slightest danger from them, or indeed from any 

 other insects of this class. I think the common hive-bees 

 are the worst tempered of any — they resent the slightest 

 interference with their motions. The hornet often chooses 

 an old hollow withy-pollard for the site of its nest. 



In the orchard there is at least one nest of the humble- 

 bee, made at a great depth in a deserted mouse's hole. 

 These bees have eaten away and removed the grass just 

 round the entrance, so as to get a clear road in and out. 

 They are as industrious as the hive bee ; but, as there are 

 not nearly so many working together in one colony, they 



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