Yet the fact remains13 that the honey-bee is essentially14 a wild creature, and never has been and cannot be thoroughly15 domesticated16. Its proper home is the woods, and thither17 every new swarm18 counts on going; and thither many do go in spite of the care and watchfulness19 of the bee-keeper. If the woods in any given locality are deficient20 in trees with suitable cavities, the bees resort to all sorts of makeshifts; they go into chimneys, into barns and outhouses, under stones, into rocks, and so forth21. Several chimneys in my locality with disused flues are taken possession of by colonies of bees nearly every season. One day, while bee-hunting, I developed a line that went toward a farm-house where I had reason to believe no bees were kept. I followed it up and questioned the farmer about his bees. He said he kept no bees, but that a swarm had taken possession of his chimney, and another had gone under the clapboards in the gable end of his house. He had taken a large lot of honey out of both places the year before. Another farmer told me that one day his family had seen a number of bees examining a knot-hole in the side of his house; the next day as they were sitting down to dinner their attention was attracted by a loud humming noise, when they discovered a swarm of bees settling upon the side of the house and pouring into the knot-hole. In subsequent years other swarms22 came to the same place.
Apparently23, every swarm of bees before it leaves the parent hive sends out exploring parties to look up the future home. The woods and groves24 are searched through and through, and no doubt the privacy of many a squirrel and many a wood mouse is intruded25 upon. What cozy26 nooks and retreats they do spy out, so much more attractive than the painted hive in the garden, so much cooler in summer and so much warmer in winter!
The bee is in the main an honest citizen; she prefers legitimate27 to illegitimate business; she is never an outlaw28 until her proper sources of supply fail; she will not touch honey as long as honey-yielding flowers can be found; she always prefers to go to the fountain-head, and dislikes to take her sweets at second hand. But in the fall, after the flowers have failed, she can be tempted29. The bee-hunter takes advantage of this fact; he betrays her with a little honey. He wants to steal her stores, and he first encourages her to steal his, then follows the thief home with her booty. This is the whole trick of the bee-hunter. The bees never suspect his game, else by taking a circuitous30 route they could easily baffle him. But the honey-bee has absolutely no wit or cunning outside of her special gifts as a gatherer and storer of honey. She is a simple-minded creature, and can be imposed upon by any novice31. Yet it is not every novice that can find a bee-tree. The sportsman may track his game to its retreat by the aid of his dog, but in hunting the honey-bee one must be his own dog, and track his game through an element in which it leaves no trail. It is a task for a sharp, quick eye, and may test the resources of the best wood-craft. One autumn when I devoted32 much time to this pursuit, as the best means of getting at nature and the open-air exhilaration, my eye became so trained that bees were nearly as easy to it as birds. I saw and heard bees wherever I went. One day, standing33 on a street corner in a great city, I saw above the trucks and the traffic a line of bees carrying off sweets from some grocery or confectionery shop.
One looks upon the woods with a new interest when he suspects they hold a colony of bees. What a pleasing secret it is; a tree with a heart of comb-honey, a decayed oak or maple34 with a bit of Sicily or Mount Hymettus stowed away in its trunk or branches; secret chambers35 where lies hidden the wealth of ten thousand little freebooters, great nuggets and wedges of precious ore gathered with risk and labor from every field and wood about.
But if you would know the delights of bee-hunting, and how many sweets such a trip yields beside honey, come with me some bright, warm, late September or early October day. It is the golden season of the year, and any errand or pursuit that takes us abroad upon the hills or by the painted woods and along the amber36 colored streams at such a time is enough. So, with haversacks filled with grapes and peaches and apples and a bottle of milk,—for we shall not be home to dinner,—and armed with a compass, a hatchet37, a pail, and a box with a piece of comb-honey neatly38 fitted into it—any box the size of your hand with a lid will do nearly as well as the elaborate and ingenious contrivance of the regular bee-hunter—we sally forth. Our course at first lies along the highway, under great chestnut39-trees whose nuts are just dropping, then through an orchard40 and across a little creek41, thence gently rising through a long series of cultivated fields toward some high, uplying land, behind which rises a rugged42 wooded ridge43 or mountain, the most sightly point in all this section. Behind this ridge for several miles the country is wild, wooded, and rocky, and is no doubt the home of many wild swarms of bees. What a gleeful uproar44 the robins45, cedar-birds, high-holes, and cow black-birds make amid the black cherry-trees as we pass along. The raccoons, too, have been here after black cherries, and we see their marks at various points. Several crows are walking about a newly sowed wheat field we pass through, and we pause to note their graceful46 movements and glossy47 coats. I have seen no bird walk the ground with just the same air the crow does. It is not exactly pride; there is no strut48 or swagger in it, though perhaps just a little condescension49; it is the contented50, complaisant51, and self-possessed gait of a lord over his domains52. All these acres are mine, he says, and all these crops; men plow53 and sow for me, and I stay here or go there, and find life sweet and good wherever I am. The hawk54 looks awkward and out of place on the ground; the game birds hurry and skulk55, but the crow is at home and treads the earth as if there were none to molest56 him or make him afraid.
The crows we have always with us, but it is not every day or every season that one sees an eagle. Hence I must preserve the memory of one I saw the last day I went bee-hunting. As I was laboring57 up the side of a mountain at the head of a valley, the noble bird sprang from the top of a dry tree above me and came sailing directly over my head. I saw him bend his eye down upon me, and I could hear the low hum of his plumage, as if the web off every quill58 in his great wings vibrated in his strong, level flight. I watched him as long as my eye could hold him. When he was fairly clear of the mountain he began that sweeping59 spiral movement in which he climbs the sky. Up and up he went without once breaking his majestic60 poise61 till he appeared to sight some far-off alien geography, when he bent62 his course thitherward and gradually vanished in the blue depths. The eagle is a bird of large ideas, he embraces long distances; the continent is his home. I never look upon one without emotion; I follow him with my eye as long as I can. I think of Canada, of the Great Lakes, of the Rocky Mountains, of the wild and sounding sea-coast. The waters are his, and the woods and the inaccessible63 cliffs. He pierces behind the veil of the storm, and his joy is height and depth and vast spaces.
We go out of our way to touch at a spring run in the edge of the woods, and are lucky to find a single scarlet64 lobelia lingering there. It seems almost to light up the gloom with its intense bit of color. Beside a ditch in a field beyond we find the great blue lobelia (Lobelia syphilitica), and near it amid the weeds and wild grasses and purple asters the most beautiful of our fall flowers, the fringed gentian. What a rare and delicate, almost aristocratic look the gentian has amid its coarse, unkempt surroundings. It does not lure65 the bee, but it lures66 and holds every passing human eye. If we strike through the corner of yonder woods, where the ground is moistened by hidden springs and where there is a little opening amid the trees, we shall find the closed gentian, a rare flower in this locality. I had walked this way many times before I chanced upon its retreat; and then I was following a line of bees. I lost the bees but I got the gentians. How curiously67 this flower looks, with its deep blue petals68 folded together so tightly—a bud and yet a blossom. It is the nun69 among our wild flowers, a form closely veiled and cloaked. The buccaneer bumble-bee sometimes tries to rifle it of its sweets. I have seen the blossom with the bee entombed in it. He had forced his way into the virgin70 corolla as if determined71 to know its secret, but he had never returned with the knowledge he had gained.
After a refreshing73 walk of a couple of miles we reach a point where we will make our first trial—a high stone wall that runs parallel with the wooded ridge referred to, and separated from it by a broad field. There are bees at work there on that goldenrod, and it requires but little maneuvering74 to sweep one into our box. Almost any other creature rudely and suddenly arrested in its career and clapped into a cage in this way would show great confusion and alarm. The bee is alarmed for a moment, but the bee has a passion stronger than its love of life or fear of death, namely, desire for honey, not simply to eat, but to carry home as booty. "Such rage of honey in their bosom75 beats," says Virgil. It is quick to catch the scent76 of honey in the box, and as quick to fall to filling itself. We now set the box down upon the wall and gently remove the cover. The bee is head and shoulders in one of the half-filled cells, and is oblivious77 to everything else about it. Come rack, come ruin, it will die at work. We step back a few paces, and sit down upon the ground so as to bring the box against the blue sky as a background. In two or three minutes the bee is seen rising slowly and heavily from the box. It seems loath78 to leave so much honey behind and it marks the place well. It mounts aloft in a rapidly increasing spiral, surveying the near and minute objects first, then the larger and more distant, till having circled about the spot five or six times and taken all its bearings it darts80 away for home. It is a good eye that holds fast to the bee till it is fairly off. Sometimes one's head will swim following it, and often one's eyes are put out by the sun. This bee gradually drifts down the hill, then strikes away toward a farm-house half a mile away, where I know bees are kept. Then we try another and another, and the third bee, much to our satisfaction, goes straight toward the woods. We could see the brown speck81 against the darker background for many yards. The regular bee-hunter professes82 to be able to tell a wild bee from a tame one by the color, the former, he says, being lighter83. But there is no difference; they are both alike in color and in manner. Young bees are lighter than old, and that is all there is of it. If a bee lived many years in the woods it would doubtless come to have some distinguishing marks, but the life of a bee is only a few months at the farthest, and no change is wrought84 in this brief time.
Our bees are all soon back, and more with them, for we have touched the box here and there with the cork85 of a bottle of anise oil, and this fragrant86 and pungent87 oil will attract bees half a mile or more. When no flowers can be found, this is the quickest way to obtain a bee.
It is a singular fact that when the bee first finds the hunter's box its first feeling is one of anger; it is as mad as a hornet; its tone changes, it sounds its shrill88 war trumpet89 and darts to and fro, and gives vent90 to its rage and indignation in no uncertain manner. It seems to scent foul91 play at once. It says, "Here is robbery; here is the spoil of some hive, may be my own," and its blood is up. But its ruling passion soon comes to the surface, its avarice92 gets the better of its indignation, and it seems to say, "Well, I had better take possession of this and carry it home." So after many feints and approaches and dartings off with a loud angry hum as if it would none of it, the bee settles down and fills itself.
It does not entirely93 cool off and get soberly to work till it has made two or three trips home with its booty. When other bees come, even if all from the same swarm, they quarrel and dispute over the box, and clip and dart79 at each other like bantam cocks. Apparently the ill feeling which the sight of the honey awakens94 is not one of jealousy95 or rivalry96, but wrath97.
A bee will usually make three or four trips from the hunter's box before it brings back a companion. I suspect the bee does not tell its fellows what it has found, but that they smell out the secret; it doubtless bears some evidence with it upon its feet or proboscis98 that it has been upon honey-comb and not upon flowers, and its companions take the hint and follow, arriving always many seconds behind. Then the quantity and quality of the booty would also betray it. No doubt, also, there are plenty of gossips about a hive that note and tell everything. "Oh, did you see that? Peggy Mel came in a few moments ago in great haste, and one of the up-stairs packers says she was loaded till she groaned99 with apple-blossom honey which she deposited, and then rushed off again like mad. Apple-blossom honey in October! Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell something! Let's after."
In about half an hour we have three well-defined lines of bees established—two to farm-houses and one to the woods, and our box is being rapidly depleted100 of its honey. About every fourth bee goes to the woods, and now that they have learned the way thoroughly they do not make the long preliminary whirl above the box, but start directly from it. The woods are rough and dense101 and the hill steep, and we do not like to follow the line of bees until we have tried at least to settle the problem as to the distance they go into the woods-whether the tree is on this side of the ridge or in the depth of the forest on the other side. So we shut up the box when it is full of bees and carry it about three hundred yards along the wall from which we are operating. When liberated102, the bees, as they always will in such cases, go off in the same directions they have been going; they do not seem to know that they have been moved. But other bees have followed our scent, and it is not many minutes before a second line to the woods is established. This is called cross-lining103 the bees. The new line makes a sharp angle with the other line, and we know at once that the tree is only a few rods into the woods. The two lines we have established form two sides of a triangle of which the wall is the base; at the apex104 of the triangle, or where the two lines meet in the woods, we are sure to find the tree. We quickly follow up these lines, and where they cross each other on the side of the hill we scan every tree closely. I pause at the foot of an oak and examine a hole near the root; now the bees are in this tree and their entrance is on the upper side near the ground, not two feet from the hole I peer into, and yet so quiet and secret is their going and coming that I fail to discover them and pass on up the hill. Failing in this direction, I return to the oak again, and then perceive the bees going out in a small crack in the tree. The bees do not know they are found out and that the game is in our hands, and are as oblivious of our presence as if we were ants or crickets. The indications are that the swarm is a small one, and the store of honey trifling105. In "taking up" a bee-tree it is usual first to kill or stupefy the bees with the fumes106 of burning sulfur107 or with tobacco smoke. But this course is impracticable on the present occasion, so we boldly and ruthlessly assault the tree with an ax we have procured108. At the first blow the bees set up a loud buzzing, but we have no mercy, and the side of the cavity is soon cut away and the interior with its white-yellow mass of comb-honey is exposed, and not a bee strikes a blow in defense109 of its all. This may seem singular, but it has nearly always been my experience. When a swarm of bees are thus rudely assaulted with an ax, they evidently think the end of the world has come, and, like true misers110 as they are, each one seizes as much of the treasure as it can hold; in other words they all fall to and gorge111 themselves with honey, and calmly await the issue. When in this condition they make no defense and will not sting unless taken hold of. In fact they are as harmless as flies. Bees are always to be managed with boldness and decision.
Any half-way measures, any timid poking112 about, any feeble attempts to reach their honey, are sure to be quickly resented. The popular notion that bees have a special antipathy113 toward certain persons and a liking114 for certain others has only this fact at the bottom of it; they will sting a person who is afraid of them and goes skulking115 and dodging116 about, and they will not sting a person who faces them boldly and has no dread117 of them. They are like dogs. The way to disarm118 a vicious dog is to show him you do not fear him; it is his turn to be afraid then. I never had any dread of bees and am seldom stung by them. I have climbed up into a large chestnut that contained a swarm in one of its cavities and chopped them out with an ax, being obliged at times to pause and brush the bewildered bees from my hands and face, and not been stung once. I have chopped a swarm out of an apple-tree in June and taken out the cards of honey and arranged them in a hive, and then dipped out the bees with a dipper, and taken the whole home with me in pretty good condition, with scarcely any opposition119 on the part of the bees. In reaching your hand into the cavity to detach and remove the comb you are pretty sure to get stung, for when you touch the "business end" of a bee, it will sting even though its head be off. But the bee carries the antidote120 to its own poison. The best remedy for bee sting is honey, and when your hands are besmeared with honey, as they are sure to be on such occasions, the wound is scarcely more painful than the prick121 of a pin. Assault your bee-tree, then, boldly with your ax, and you will find that when the honey is exposed every bee has surrendered and the whole swarm is cowering122 in helpless bewilderment and terror. Our tree yields only a few pounds of honey, not enough to have lasted the swarm till January, but no matter; we have the less burden to carry.
In the afternoon we go nearly half a mile farther along the ridge to a cornfield that lies immediately in front of the highest point of the mountain. The view is superb; the ripe autumn landscape rolls away to the east, cut through by the great placid123 river; in the extreme north the wall of the Catskills stands out clear and strong, while in the south the mountains of the Highlands bound the view. The day is warm and the bees are very busy there in that neglected corner of the field, rich in asters, flea-bane, and golden-rod. The corn has been cut, and upon a stout124, but a few rods from the woods, which here drop quickly down from the precipitous heights, we set up our bee-box, touched again with the pungent oil. In a few moments a bee has found it; she comes up to leeward125, following the scent. On leaving the box she goes straight toward the woods. More bees quickly come, and it is not long before the line is well established. Now we have recourse to the same tactics we employed before, and move along the ridge to another field to get our cross line. But the bees still go in almost the same direction they did from the corn stout. The tree is then either on the top of the mountain or on the other or west side of it. We hesitate to make the plunge126 into the woods and seek to scale those precipices128, for the eye can plainly see what is before us. As the afternoon sun gets lower the bees are seen with wonderful distinctness. They fly toward and under the sun and are in a strong light, while the near woods which form the background are in deep shadow. They look like large luminous129 motes130. Their swiftly vibrating, transparent131 wings surround their bodies with a shining nimbus that makes them visible for a long distance. They seem magnified many times. We see them bridge the little gulf132 between us and the woods, then rise up over the tree-tops with their burdens, swerving133 neither to the right hand nor to the left. It is almost pathetic to see them labor so, climbing the mountain and unwittingly guiding us to their treasures. When the sun gets down so that his direction corresponds exactly with the course of the bees, we make the plunge. It proves even harder climbing than we had anticipated; the mountain is faced by a broken and irregular wall of rock, up which we pull ourselves slowly and cautiously by main strength. In half an hour, the perspiration134 streaming from every pore, we reach the summit. The trees here are all small, a second growth, and we are soon convinced the bees are not here. Then down we go on the other side, clambering down the rocky stairways till we reach quite a broad plateau that forms something like the shoulder of the mountain. On the brink135 of this there are many large hemlocks137, and we scan them closely and rap upon them with our ax. But not a bee is seen or heard; we do not seem as near the tree as we were in the fields below; yet if some divinity would only whisper the fact to us we are within a few rods of the coveted138 prize, which is not in one of the large hemlocks or oaks that absorb our attention, but in an old stub or stump139 not six feet high, and which we have seen and passed several times without giving it a thought. We go farther down the mountain and beat about to the right and left and get entangled140 in brush and arrested by precipices, and finally as the day is nearly spent, give up the search and leave the woods quite baffled, but resolved to return on the morrow. The next day we come back and commence operations in an opening in the woods well down on the side of the mountain, where we gave up the search. Our box is soon swarming141 with the eager bees, and they go back toward the summit we have passed. We follow back and establish a new line where the ground will permit; then another and another, and yet the riddle142 is not solved. One time we are south of them, then north, then the bees get up through the trees and we cannot tell where they go. But after much searching, and after the mystery seems rather to deepen than to clear up, we chance to pause beside the old stump. A bee comes out of a small opening, like that made by ants in decayed wood, rubs its eyes and examines its antennae143 as bees always do before leaving their hive, then takes flight. At the same instant several bees come by us loaded with our honey and settle home with that peculiar144 low complacent145 buzz of the well-filled insect. Here then is our idyl, our bit of Virgil and Theocritus, in a decayed stump of a hemlock136 tree. We could tear it open with our hands, and a bear would find it an easy prize, and a rich one too, for we take from it fifty pounds of excellent honey. The bees have been here many years, and have of course sent out swarm after swarm into the wilds. They have protected themselves against the weather and strengthened their shaky habitation by a copious146 use of wax.
When a bee-tree is thus "taken up" in the middle of the day, of course a good many bees are away from home and have not heard the news. When they return and find the ground flowing with honey, and piles of bleeding combs lying about, they apparently do not recognize the place, and their first instinct is to fall to and fill themselves; this done, their next thought is to carry it home, so they rise up slowly through the branches of the trees till they have attained147 an altitude that enables them to survey the scene, when they seem to say, "Why, this is home," and down they come again; beholding148 the wreck149 and ruins once more they still think there is some mistake, and get up a second or a third time and then drop back pitifully as before. It is the most pathetic sight of all, the surviving and bewildered bees struggling to save a few drops of their wasted treasures.
Presently, if there is another swarm in the woods, robber-bees appear. You may know them by their saucy150, chiding151, devil-may-care hum. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and they make the most of the misfortune of their neighbors; and thereby152 pave the way for their own ruin. The hunter marks their course and the next day looks them up. On this occasion the day was hot and the honey very fragrant, and a line of bees was soon established S. S. W. Though there was much refuse honey in the old stub, and though little golden rills trickled153 down the hill from it, and the near branches and saplings were besmeared with it where we wiped our murderous hands, yet not a drop was wasted. It was a feast to which not only honey-bees came, but bumble-bees, wasps154, hornets, flies, ants. The bumble-bees, which at this season are hungry vagrants155 with no fixed156 place of abode157, would gorge themselves, then creep beneath the bits of empty comb or fragments of bark and pass the night, and renew the feast next day. The bumble-bee is an insect of which the bee-hunter sees much. There are all sorts and sizes of them. They are dull and clumsy compared with the honey-bee. Attracted in the fields by the bee-hunter's box, they will come up the wind on the scent and blunder into it in the most stupid, lubberly fashion.
The honey-bee that licked up our leavings on the old stub belonged to a swarm, as it proved, about half a mile farther down the ridge, and a few days afterward158 fate overtook them, and their stores in turn became the prey159 of another swarm in the vicinity, which also tempted Providence160 and were overwhelmed. The first mentioned swarm I had lined from several points, and was following up the clew over rocks and through gulleys, when I came to where a large hemlock had been felled a few years before and a swarm taken from a cavity near the top of it; fragments of the old comb were yet to be seen. A few yards away stood another short, squatty hemlock, and I said my bees ought to be there. As I paused near it I noticed where the tree had been wounded with an ax a couple of feet from the ground many years before. The wound had partially161 grown over, but there was an opening there that I did not see at the first glance. I was about to pass on when a bee passed me making that peculiar shrill, discordant162 hum that a bee makes when besmeared with honey. I saw it alight in the partially closed wound and crawl home; then came others and others, little bands and squads163 of them heavily freighted with honey from the box. The tree was about twenty inches through and hollow at the butt164, or from the ax mark down. This space the bees had completely filled with honey. With an ax we cut away the outer ring of live wood and exposed the treasure. Despite the utmost care, we wounded the comb so that little rills of the golden liquid issued from the root of the tree and trickled down the hill.
The other bee-tree in the vicinity, to which I have referred, we found one warm November day in less than half an hour after entering the woods. It also was a hemlock, that stood in a niche165 in a wall of hoary166, moss-covered rocks thirty feet high. The tree hardly reached to the top of the precipice127. The bees entered a small hole at the root, which was seven or eight feet from the ground. The position was a striking one. Never did apiary167 have a finer outlook or more rugged surroundings. A black, wood-embraced lake lay at our feet; the long panorama168 of the Catskills filled the far distance, and the more broken outlines of the Shawangunk range filled the rear. On every hand were precipices and a wild confusion of rocks and trees.
The cavity occupied by the bees was about three feet and a half long and eight or ten inches in diameter. With an ax we cut away one side of the tree and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of honey. It was a most pleasing sight. What winding169 and devious170 ways the bees had through their palace! What great masses and blocks of snow-white comb there were! Where it was sealed up, presenting that slightly dented171, uneven172 surface, it looked like some precious ore. When we carried a large pail full of it out of the woods, it seemed still more like ore.
Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of the tree by the time the bee occupies in making its first trip. But this is no certain guide. You are always safe in calculating that the tree is inside of a mile, and you need not as a rule look for your bee's return under ten minutes. One day I picked up a bee in an opening in the woods and gave it honey, and it made three trips to my box with an interval173 of about twelve minutes between them; it returned alone each time; the tree, which I afterward found, was about half a mile distant.
In lining bees through the woods, the tactics of the hunter are to pause every twenty or thirty rods, lop away the branches or cut down the trees, and set the bees to work again. If they still go forward, he goes forward also and repeats his observations till the tree is found or till the bees turn and come back upon the trail. Then he knows he has passed the tree, and he retraces174 his steps to a convenient distance and tries again, and thus quickly reduces the space to be looked over till the swarm is traced home. On one occasion, in a wild rocky wood, where the surface alternated between deep gulfs and chasms175 filled with thick, heavy growths of timber and sharp, precipitous, rocky ridges176 like a tempest tossed sea, I carried my bees directly under their tree, and set them to work from a high, exposed ledge72 of rocks not thirty feet distant. One would have expected them under such circumstances to have gone straight home, as there were but few branches intervening, but they did not; they labored177 up through the trees and attained an altitude above the woods as if they had miles to travel, and thus baffled me for hours. Bees will always do this. They are acquainted with the woods only from the top side, and from the air above they recognize home only by land-marks here, and in every instance they rise aloft to take their bearings. Think how familiar to them the topography of the forest summits must be-an umbrageous178 sea or plain where every mask and point is known.
Another curious fact is that generally you will get track of a bee-tree sooner when you are half a mile from it than when you are only a few yards. Bees, like us human insects, have little faith in the near at hand; they expect to make their fortune in a distant field, they are lured179 by the remote and the difficult, and hence overlook the flower and the sweet at their very door. On several occasions I have unwittingly set my box within a few paces of a bee-tree and waited long for bees without getting them, when, on removing to a distant field or opening in the woods I have got a clew at once.
I have a theory that when bees leave the hive, unless there is some special attraction in some other direction, they generally go against the wind. They would thus have the wind with them when they returned home heavily laden180, and with these little navigators the difference is an important one. With a full cargo181, a stiff head-wind is a great hindrance182, but fresh and empty-handed they can face it with more ease. Virgil says bees bear gravel183 stones as ballast, but their only ballast is their honey bag. Hence, when I go bee-hunting, I prefer to get to windward of the woods in which the swarm is supposed to have taken refuge.
Bees, like the milkman, like to be near a spring. They do water their honey, especially in a dry time. The liquid is then of course thicker and sweeter, and will bear diluting184. Hence, old bee-hunters look for bee-trees along creeks185 and near spring runs in the woods. I once found a tree a long distance from any water, and the honey had a peculiar bitter flavor imparted to it, I was convinced, by rainwater sucked from the decayed and spongy hemlock tree, in which the swarm was found. In cutting into the tree, the north side of it was found to be saturated186 with water like a spring, which ran out in big drops, and had a bitter flavor. The bees had thus found a spring or a cistern187 in their own house.
Bees are exposed to many hardships and many dangers. Winds and storms prove as disastrous188 to them as to other navigators. Black spiders lie in wait for them as do brigands189 for travelers. One day as I was looking for a bee amid some golden-rod, I spied one partly concealed190 under a leaf. Its baskets were full of pollen191, and it did not move. On lifting up the leaf I discovered that a hairy spider was ambushed192 there and had the bee by the throat. The vampire193 was evidently afraid of the bee's sting, and was holding it by the throat till quite sure of its death. Virgil speaks of the painted lizard194, perhaps a species of salamander, as an enemy of the honey-bee. We have no lizard that destroys the bee; but our tree-toad, ambushed among the apple and cherry blossoms, snaps them up wholesale195. Quick as lightning that subtle but clammy tongue darts forth, and the unsuspecting bee is gone. Virgil also accuses the titmouse and the woodpecker of preying196 upon the bees, and our kingbird has been charged with the like crime, but the latter devours197 only the drones. The workers are either too small and quick for it, or else it dreads198 their sting.
Virgil, by the way, had little more than a child's knowledge of the honey-bee. There is little fact and much fable199 in his fourth Georgic. If he had ever kept bees himself, or even visited an apiary, it is hard to see how he could have believed that the bee in its flight abroad carried a gravel stone for ballast:—
"And as when empty barks on billows float,
With Sandy ballast sailors trim the boat;
or that when two colonies made war upon each other they issued forth from their hives led by their kings and fought in the air, strewing202 the ground with the dead and dying:—
"Hard hailstones lie not thicker on the plain,
It is quite certain he had never been bee-hunting. If he had, we should have had a fifth Georgic. Yet he seems to have known that bees sometimes escaped to the woods:—
In chambers of their own beneath the ground:
And in the rotten trunks of hollow trees."
Wild honey is as near like tame as wild bees are like their brothers in hive. The only difference is that wild honey is flavored with your adventure, which makes it a little more delectable206 than the domestic article.
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1
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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2
thrift
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| adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约 | |
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inordinate
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| adj.无节制的；过度的 | |
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dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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epitome
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| n.典型，梗概 | |
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craftiness
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| 狡猾，狡诈 | |
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foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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provident
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| adj.为将来做准备的，有先见之明的 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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13
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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14
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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15
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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16
domesticated
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| adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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18
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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19
watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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20
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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21
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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22
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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23
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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25
intruded
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| n.侵入的，推进的v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 )；把…强加于 | |
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26
cozy
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| adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的 | |
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27
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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28
outlaw
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| n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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29
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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30
circuitous
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| adj.迂回的路的，迂曲的，绕行的 | |
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31
novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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32
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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34
maple
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| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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36
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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37
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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38
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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39
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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40
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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41
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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42
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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43
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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44
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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45
robins
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| n.知更鸟，鸫( robin的名词复数 )；（签名者不分先后，以避免受责的）圆形签名抗议书（或请愿书） | |
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46
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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47
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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48
strut
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| v.肿胀，鼓起；大摇大摆地走；炫耀；支撑；撑开；n.高视阔步；支柱，撑杆 | |
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49
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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50
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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51
complaisant
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| adj.顺从的，讨好的 | |
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52
domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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53
plow
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| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
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54
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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55
skulk
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| v.藏匿；潜行 | |
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56
molest
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| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
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57
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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58
quill
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| n.羽毛管；v.给（织物或衣服）作皱褶 | |
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59
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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60
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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61
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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62
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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63
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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64
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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65
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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66
lures
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| 吸引力，魅力（lure的复数形式） | |
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67
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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69
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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70
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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71
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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72
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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73
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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74
maneuvering
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵 | |
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75
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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76
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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77
oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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78
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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79
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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80
darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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81
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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82
professes
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| 声称( profess的第三人称单数 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉 | |
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83
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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84
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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85
cork
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| n.软木，软木塞 | |
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86
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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87
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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88
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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89
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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90
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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91
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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92
avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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93
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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94
awakens
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的第三人称单数 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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95
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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96
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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97
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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98
proboscis
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| n.（象的）长鼻 | |
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99
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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100
depleted
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| adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词 | |
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101
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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102
liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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103
lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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104
apex
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| n.顶点，最高点 | |
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105
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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106
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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107
sulfur
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| n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur） | |
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108
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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109
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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110
misers
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| 守财奴，吝啬鬼( miser的名词复数 ) | |
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111
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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112
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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113
antipathy
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| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
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114
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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115
skulking
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的现在分词 ) | |
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116
dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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117
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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118
disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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119
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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120
antidote
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| n.解毒药，解毒剂 | |
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121
prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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122
cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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123
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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125
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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126
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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127
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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128
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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129
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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130
motes
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| n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点 | |
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131
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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132
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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133
swerving
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的现在分词 ) | |
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134
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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135
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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136
hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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137
hemlocks
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| 由毒芹提取的毒药( hemlock的名词复数 ) | |
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138
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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139
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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140
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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141
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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142
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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143
antennae
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| n.天线；触角 | |
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144
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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145
complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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146
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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147
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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148
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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149
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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150
saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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151
chiding
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| v.责骂，责备( chide的现在分词 ) | |
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152
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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153
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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154
wasps
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| 黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人 | |
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155
vagrants
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| 流浪者( vagrant的名词复数 )； 无业游民； 乞丐； 无赖 | |
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156
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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157
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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158
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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159
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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160
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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161
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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162
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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163
squads
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| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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164
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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165
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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166
hoary
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| adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的 | |
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167
apiary
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| n.养蜂场，蜂房 | |
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168
panorama
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| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
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169
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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170
devious
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| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
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171
dented
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| v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等） | |
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172
uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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173
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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174
retraces
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| v.折回( retrace的第三人称单数 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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175
chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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176
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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177
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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178
umbrageous
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| adj.多荫的 | |
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179
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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180
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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181
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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182
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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183
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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184
diluting
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| 稀释，冲淡( dilute的现在分词 )； 削弱，使降低效果 | |
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185
creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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186
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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187
cistern
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| n.贮水池 | |
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188
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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189
brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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190
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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191
pollen
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| n.[植]花粉 | |
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192
ambushed
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| v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着 | |
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193
vampire
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| n.吸血鬼 | |
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194
lizard
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| n.蜥蜴，壁虎 | |
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195
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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196
preying
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| v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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197
devours
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| 吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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198
dreads
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| n.恐惧，畏惧( dread的名词复数 )；令人恐惧的事物v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的第三人称单数 ) | |
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199
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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200
poising
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| 使平衡( poise的现在分词 )； 保持（某种姿势）； 抓紧； 使稳定 | |
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201
steers
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| n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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202
strewing
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| v.撒在…上( strew的现在分词 )；散落于；点缀；撒满 | |
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203
acorns
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| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
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204
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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205
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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206
delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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