724 
ROBBING 
fume of the honey other bees have gath¬ 
ered, and, by some sort of an operation 
in its little head, it figures out that, if 
it could abstract some of this, unperceived, 
and get it safely into its own hive, it would 
be so much the richer. It has no sort of 
care whether these other bees die of star¬ 
vation or not. That is none of its concern. 
With all their wonderful instincts, no 
one has ever been able to perceive that the 
bees of one hive have any spark of solici¬ 
tude as to the welfare of their neighbors. 
If, by the loss of a queen, the population 
of any hive becomes weak, and the bees 
are too old to defend their stores, the very 
moment the fact is discovered by the other 
colonies they rush in and overpower the 
sentinels, with the most perfect indiffer¬ 
ence, plunder the ruined home of its last 
bit of provision, and then rejoice in their 
own home, it may be but a yard away, 
while their defrauded neighbors are so 
weak from starvation as to have fallen to 
the bottom of the hive, being only just able 
to attempt to crawl feebly out at the en¬ 
trance. Had it been some of their own 
flock, the case would have been very differ¬ 
ent indeed; for the first bee of a starving 
colony will carry food around to its com¬ 
rades, as soon as it has imbibed enough of 
the food furnished to have the strength to 
stagger to them. 
Suppose a robber bee, in prowling 
around in the afternoon or some other 
time, should find a colony so weak or so 
careless that it could slip in unobserved, 
and get a load from some of the unsealed 
cells, and get out again. After it has 
passed the sentinels outside it usually runs 
little danger from the inmates that seem to 
take it for granted that every bee inside is 
one of their number. There is danger, tho; 
for should the robber betray too great 
haste in repairing to the combs of honey 
they often suspect something; so it as¬ 
sumes an indifference it is far from feel¬ 
ing, and loiters about very much as if it 
were at home, and finally with a very well- 
assumed air of one who thinks he will take 
a lunch, it goes to the cells and commences 
to fill up. Very often, when it gets pretty 
well “podded out” with its load, some bee 
approaches, apparently to see if all is 
right. When the robber once gets its head 
into a cell, however, it seems to have lost all 
sense or reason; and if it is discovered at 
this stage to be a stranger and a thief, it 
is often pounced upon and stung with very 
little ceremony. 
How do bees know a stranger from one 
of their own number, where there are so 
many? It is said they tell by the sense of 
smell; this may be the principal means, 
perhaps, but apparently they depend great¬ 
ly on the action and behavior of a bee, 
much as men do when judging of the re¬ 
sponsibility of a man who asks to be trust¬ 
ed. One can give a very good guess, simply 
by his air or manner, or even by the sort 
of letter he writes. 
If a robber bee is suspected, and a bee 
approaches for the purpose of satisfying 
itself, it is a very critical moment, and one 
becomes intensely interested in watching 
the performance. The robber will stand 
its ground, if it is an old hand, and permit 
itself to be looked over with wonderful in¬ 
difference; but one who has watched such 
scenes closely will detect a certain uneasi¬ 
ness, and a disposition to move slowly to¬ 
ward the entrance, that it may be the bet¬ 
ter able to get out quickly, when it discov¬ 
ers things to be too hot for it inside. If 
the bee that first suspects it concludes it is 
an interloper, it begins to bite it, and grab 
hold of its wings to hold on until others can 
come to help. The thief has now two 
chances to escape, ,and sometimes it seems 
meditating which to adopt; one is, to brave 
it out until they shall perhaps let it alone, 
and then slip out unobserved. The other 
is to break away and trust to its heels and 
wings. The latter plan is the one generally 
adopted. One that has been many times in 
such scrapes will usually get away by an 
adroit series of twists, turns, and tu mb les, 
even tho three or four bees have hold of it 
at once. Some of these fellows, by a sud¬ 
den and unexpected dash, will liberate 
themselves in a manner that is even won¬ 
derful, and then, as if to show their 
audacity, will wheel about and come back 
close to the noses of their captors of a 
minute before. 
In case the bee secures its load and 
makes its way out unobserved, it gets home 
very quickly, and, under the influence of 
this new passion for easily replenishing 
