138 
TOE HIVE AND HONET-BEE. 
hearing this sound. This peculiar swarming sound may 
be produced merely by the great numbers of bees flying 
idly, at such times, to and fro in the air ; but it seems 
to me to differ in its character, as it certainly does in its 
effect upon the bees, from the noise . produced by the 
ordinary flight of busy workers, however numerous. My 
observations on this point, have satisfied me that those 
Apiarians are mistaken who deny to the bee the sense of 
hearing. This sense, on the contrary, seems to be acute. 
If the Apiarian fears that another swarm will issue, to 
unite with the one he is hiving, he may confine its queen 
with my movable-blocks ; or he may quickly envelope the 
swarming hive with a sheet. If his new colony has been 
shaken upon the swarming-sheet, he may cover it from 
the sight of other swarms, with another sheet. 
The hive, with the new swarm, should be removed to 
its permanent stand as soon as the bees have entered ; or 
the scouts, on their return, will find them, and will 
often entice them to flee to the woods. There is the more 
danger of this, if the bees remained long on the tree be- 
fore they were hived. I have almost invariably found 
that swarms which abandon a suitable hive for the woods, 
were hived near the spot where they clustered, the bee- 
keeper intending to remove them in the evening, or early 
next morning. Bees which swarm early in the day, will 
generally begin to range the fields in a few hours after 
they are hived, or even in a few minutes, if they have 
empty comb ; and the fewest bees will be lost, when the 
hive is removed to its permanent stand, as soon as the bees 
have entered it. If it is desirable, for any reason, to re- 
move the hive before all the bees have gone in, the sheet, 
on which the bees are lying, may be so folded that the 
colony can be easily carried to their new stand, where the 
bees may enter at their leisure. 
