BOBBING. 
265 
never be mistaken for honest laborers carrying, with un- 
wieldy flight, their heavy burdens to the hive. These 
bold plunderers,, as they enter a hive, are almost as 
hungry-looking 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. 
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 to allow them to finish their 
work. The air will be quickly filled with greedy bees, 
who, unable to bear their disappointment, will assail, with 
almost frantic desperation, some of the adjoining stocks. 
In this way, the strongest colonies are sometimes over- 
powered, or thousands of bees slain in the desperate 
contest. 
When an Apiarian perceives that a colony is being 
robbed, he should contract the entrance, 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 will 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 make them glad to return to their 
homes. 
Unless the bees that were shut up can have an abund- 
ance of air, they should be carried to a cool and dark* 
• 11 In Germany, when colonies in common hives are being robbed, they nro oftoo 
removed to n distant location, or put in a dark collar. A hive, similar in appear- 
aoco, is placed on their stand, and leaves of wormwood and the expressed juice of 
tho plant are put on the bottom-board. Bees have such an antipathy to tho 
Odor of this plant, that the robbers speedily forsake tho placo, and the assailed 
colony may then bo brought' back. 
The Itev. Mr. Klcine says, that robbers inav he repelled hr Imparling to the 
12 
