AT THE HIVE DOORS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 99, 22 September 1914, Page 7

AT THE HIVE DOORS.

j HABITS PRACTISED BY BEES,

', There has been a great many curious j little actions and habits practised by i bees just at the entrance to the hiveti, '.when .leaving or returning. In order to ..watch these, says a correspondent in '.the '"Weekly Scotsman," I sometimes lay down with my near to the eu- | trance of one of my busiest bee hives, i.whieh enables me to sco well inside, j and note the behaviour of the bees until '.they are right up among the combs. j.The insects pay very little attention to | anyone when they are busy so long as i their line of flight is not interrupted, I and so, though bo near, I have never j 'been attacked, as I keep to one Bide. ..Occasionally, a bee would take a rest I upon my cheek, exp'ore one ot my ears, I.or meander over a closed eyelid; but no ' aggression being made, none was offered. i.The last days 1 watched at the hives the bees were engaged upon the clover. [eo not much pollen was being-carried, j the little there was being of a dull grey l.color. The day was warm and fanners '.stood at each side of the entrance bus'.ily plying their wings to keep the tem- | perature at the proper degree. The asi siduity with which this important duty I was carried out was most amusing. Tir,_ed bees, laden with honey or pollen, j i.would come blundering up and land oil ' the top of one of the patient fanners. The latter would stop for an instant 1 .till the incoming Lee had crawled over, and then at once resume its fanning. Many of the laden bees fell short at the ' I footboard, and these usually rested for ' a little upon a blade of grass or a flower , [ until they had recovered sufficiently to ' I make the short flight still required to I the hive door.

Some were seemingly too much exhausted, and once down among the grass blades spent themselves in vainly trying to crawl up again. I rescued several of these on the point of a pencil, and placed them on the footboard, when they promptly crawled in to add the load they carried to the common stock. Most interesting al3o were the bees coming out of the hive. It was not long until I noticed one of tlieni come to the door and fly straight away. Everyone had some little action to perform ere taking' flight. 'Without exception each bee rubbed its forelegs over its eyes, some performing the action so quickly that it could scarcely be noticed, others with more deliberation, but everyone did it. In addition to this, many of them performed a waltzing movement, first turning one way and then the other, while frequently a complete revolution was made, either in one or in opposite directions, on the way down the footboard ere flight was "taken. It oec'.ir,red to me that the rubbing of the eyes 'might be necessary owing to the transition from the darkness of the hive to the brilliant sunshine, and this idea gained strength when I found that the drones —whose eyes are much larger than those of the workers—spent a correspondingly longer time in this operation, rubbing their eyes repeatedly as if they were much dazed. Then with a pompous buzz the clumsy males would launch themselves forth, as often as not flying for only a few yards, and then returning again to feed upon the Bwccts