Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/194

190 to observe bees accustomed to be fed in this manner watching the approach of the feeder. When the ordinary time draws near, they rush down to the box the moment it is put upon the board, and, after speedily filling themselves, they return to the hive, from which they very soon return for a second supply. By throwing a little fine flour on those leaving the box, it will be seen that they can fill themselves in three minutes, and are absent not above five. One convenience that attends feeding with such a box, is the exclusion of stranger bees, as the sole communication with the interior is from the entrance of the hive." This is a very good contrivance, generally speaking, but there should be no hole for allowing the bees to escape from the trough or box when over-crowded, as, if left open for a minute through neglect, it would give occasion for the very evil intended to be guarded against, namely, the admission of strangers; for what affords the means of exit to the former will admit the entrance of the latter. There is no need of cork to buoy up the float, which, if made, as it should be, of thin light fir, will be sufficiently buoyant of itself. It may be remarked, also, that there is no danger of filling the box so full as to crush the bees against the glass cover; the describer must have forgot that the entrance-hole intervenes, above which the liquid cannot rise. The usual mode of supplying the bees by this trough is to give the food in the afternoon or evening, when all are within doors, and to remove it early next morning. This mode of feeding, however, ought, as already stated, to be had recourse to only in