MANAGING BEES. 
23 
time previous. They likewise have been 
known in frequent instances to remain over 
night, and even several days and nights, be- 
fore they left for the woods ; and furthermore, 
when the bees go direct from the old stock, 
the bee-hunter takes their course, by setting 
his compass, and fixing the old stock as his 
starting-point; for bees always take a direct 
and straight course towards their new resi- 
dence, when they first start. Now if the 
hunter takes the old stock as his starting-point, 
in connexion with the place where the bees 
clustered in a body, he will run as far lrom 
his bees as east is from any other point of the 
compass. 
Although bees have several thousand eyes, 
yet, they are fixed in their places in their head, 
like so many suns, and as they do not turn in 
their sockets, like the eyes of men and quad 
rupeds, they arc unable to traverse a crooked 
path without extreme difficulty : and when 
their sight is entirely obstructed for any length 
of time, they are compelled to alight. 
When bees leave for a new residence that is 
unknown to their owner, several miles distant, 
