16 AUGUST 1930, Page 15

CONSERVATIVE BEES.

Bees cling to favourite sites ; and yet are very adaptable. The biggest wild combful I ever secured was built into a quick-set hedge. The utterly irregular comb extended for a yard or more in a horizontal position some two feet above the ground. Bumble-bees have yet more catholic tastes, though perhaps the two commoner and bigger species- bons5us terrestris and bore5es lapidaries—prefer the ground. Failing a seductive hole in wood, brick, or the ground, they like a thrush's or a blackbird's nest set in some very solid place. You may find old nests that bear evidence of having housed both bees and mice after the thrushes had departed.