Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

BEE HUNTING 361and that no cross-lining should be attempted untilthe hunter has passed beyond the treasure tree andfinds the bees back-tracking. I incline to thelatter school; but I will describe the working methodsof both.To cross-line at the start; leave some bait atjT>ur first stand, take your box, capture a numberof bees, cover the top and bottom of the box, toexclude light and thus keep them quiet, and goaway at a right angle to the bee-line, about 200or 300 yards. Here set down your box, uncover,but do not open the top; leave the box alone for aminute or two until the bees recover from theirsurprise and begin feeding; then liberate them, andnote their course as before. This gives you thebase of a triangle, the apex of which, where thetwo lines of flight converge, is near the hollow treethat contains the wild bees' hoard. H you do notsee where the lines meet, the hive is beyond yourpresent range of vision.Whether you do this or not, as soon as you canfollow the line for a considerable distance, cleanthe feeding tray, capture a number of bees in thebox, and take it with 5^ou as far as you are sureof the course. Then put a little more honey-waterin the feeder, and start your bees again. Thuswork progressively toward the goal.Hives.—Sometimes the kind of tree that thehive is in can be foretold from the color of theinsects themselves, which is modified, after a fewmonths' residence, by the nature of the timber : lightcolored bees in pine, poplar, chestnut; darker onesin oak, beech, maple. But it is not likely thatyou will find the hive by merely following the beelineand examining" such or such trees along theway. Look for an old squirrel hjole or knot-holewhere the bees fly in and out.Not infrequently bee hives are in rock crevices^I remember a hive that was well known for yearsto nearly everybody in that part of the coun*try, but which had never been disturbed, be-