a
wooded country, along the side of hills or mountains containing
ridges and deep hollows, the line of flight deviates far from a
straight line.

To illustrate and prove the above assertion, I will here give an
incident in connection with bee hunting that occurred not many
years ago, and which goes to prove that bees do not always fly in a
perfectly straight line. East of my home about one mile there is a
mountain extending north and south. Along the foot of this
mountain, a stream, known as Sideling Hill creek, runs the entire
length of the valley. The mountain extending up from this creek is
made up of ridges and hollows. A friend of mine, one day in July,
found bees watering along the creek and nearly east of my home. The
bees flew south with the creek along the foot of the mountain.
After trying to find them, (consuming two days' time in the
attempt), he came for me to help him out, telling me that he had
looked at every tree near the course for a distance of a mile. It
was a very finely marked Italian bee, and being anxious to find and
hive it, offered to pay me for my time whether we found the bee or
not. I asked him if he had baited them at the water. He said he had
tried but not a bee could be induced to take bait. My time being
limited just then, I told him I would get them to bait for him and
after this he certainly could find it himself. "Oh, yes, that's all
I ask," he replied. Going with him, I used the method described in
an early chapter entitled "Hunting the Bee from Water." In a short
space of time I had lots of them loading up and flying south along
the creek. About a half mile on the course an old clearing ran up
some distance on a ridge, and the course seemed to go about midway
through it. My instructions were to put the bait on this place, as
it was clear of all bushes that might bother him from getting a
direct course, and after giving all necessary instruction I went
home and awaited results. The next evening he told me he had gone
into the old field and, as the bees were a little slow in coming to
the bait, he built a fire and proceeded to burn and got bees in
abundance, still flying on the same course; then moving the bait
much farther on the course to another old field, found that they
continued on the same line of flight; and from this last location
followed them in sight of a house, the owner having thirty stands
of bees, thus convincing him that the bees all had come from this
apiary.

B