On 20 Aug 97 at 10:58, Leo Walford wrote:
 
>      Wathcing the bees coming and going from the hive this morning,
>      I noticed what appeared to be two bees wrestling. They fell off
>      the alighting board and finally separated on the ground, at
>      which point one of them (which looked like all my other bees)
>      flew back into the hive. The other bee (though almost
>      definitely a honey bee) looked quite different, in that it was
>      very very dark (mine are quite light), and looked like its fur
>      had been rubbed off (ie it may not have started out dark).
>      Also, its wings were like two little bits of string and, I
>      beleive, were being chewed during the wrestling match by the
 
>      Does anyone have any thoughts about what might have been going
>      on?
 
At this time of year one has to be on the lookout for robbing. This I
suggest is what was seen here. The defeated one is older, darker, and
less hairy, from a different hive.
        IMHO bees will kill deformed bees before dragging them outside,
whereas robbers are sometimes allowed to get away, perhaps to warn
the others?
 
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