Inside of five minutes I was startled by a succession of yells that appeared to extend in a line from the top of the hill to the swamp. Shortly a doleful voice called to me from the swamp. I went down and found my friend up to his hips in water. He wanted me to go up the hill and find his gloves and veil. I tried to have him come out, but he claimed that the bees had stung him until he was nearly blind. He told such a pitiable story that I believed him and hunted up his lost property. When he came to the edge of the swamp, I could not see anything that looked like stings on his face, and told him so. He had got his gloves and veil, so he simply grinned. When he undertook to eat his honey on the hill, bees that were hunting for honey had found him, and buzzed about his ears until he was completely demoralized with fear. They would not sting any one. My friend could have worked unprotected, just as I did, but his nerves would not permit it.
There is another method of bee hunting which I must describe, or my article would be incomplete. This method is pursued late in the season, when bees cannot be found on flowers. Pressed comb is burned to attract the bees. Take some of this comb to the woods, where there is likely to be a swarm, and make a fire. Heat two or three flat rocks, and use one at a time, sizzling the comb. Have honey handy so the bees will find it when they follow the scent of the burning comb to the spot. This method is successful early in the season some years.
XIV.
TINY
In the series of nature studies, published in Forest and Stream's natural history columns, Tiny was briefly introduced to the public. Tiny is a red squirrel, the son of Bismarck. The latter was a grizzled old warrior, the hero of many a fierce battle. Why he gave the cabin dooryard to Tiny is one of the mysteries of squirrel life. He had held it against all squirrels, red or gray, for ten years, and now gave it over to Tiny to have and to hold, without reserve.
A return to Bismarck's life history may throw some light on this peculiar transaction.
Bismarck's family, April, 1900, consisted of a wife and four children. Mrs. Bismarck, at that time, left her children to the care of her husband, while she made a new nest in which to rear another family. It was Bismarck's duty to finish the education of the young squirrels and to marry off the daughters to young males of another family, and to locate his sons on territory which they would ever after own, and for which they would fight to the death.
Tiny was not half so big as his only brother. Perhaps that was the reason why Bismarck favored him, and brought him to the dooryard. It was an unusual act, for Bismarck insisted that his sons should remain on the territory upon which he had located them.
