18S2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



185 



a queen occasionally. Suppose you have a 

 case of two queens in a hive. By your plan, 

 as I understand it, your queen is surely kill- 

 ed ; and it has been shown by our late letters, 

 that two queens in a hive is a rather fre- 

 quent thing. By our plan of looking a few 

 minutes afterward, we can save a queen, if 

 there are two in a hive, for they will be both 

 balled. The idea of choosing toward sun- 

 down, or dusk, is an excellent one, and it is 

 probably the secret of our great success in 

 letting so many loose at once, as we often do. 



THE DZIERZON THEORV, AND PAR- 

 THENO-GENESIS. 



SEE PAGE 113, MARCH GLEANINGS. 



tlpR. WILTSE decidedly misunderstands my 

 f|l[[ views, if he supposes that I have a shadow of 

 — " ' doubt in regard to the correctness of the 

 Dzierzon Theory. Not only do I not doubt, but, by 

 experiments carefully conducted, I have satisfac- 

 torily—yes, conclusively —proved to myself that 

 the doctrine of partheno- genesis, as relates to the 

 honey-bee, is true; and the object of my article 

 touching upon that subject, was simply to call atten- 

 tion to a point that, to my mind, is of considerable 

 importance in raising queens, which is this: It is 

 well known, that impure impregnation among mam- 

 mals renders the female for ever after impure, ow- 

 ing to carrying the j'oung during pregnancy; the 

 domestic fowl is disqualified, also, by impure mat- 

 ing, not because a portion of the foreign semen re- 

 mains in the oviduct to impregnate the new eggs, 

 but because absorption has taken place, and thus 

 her whole system is contaminated. Now, why is 

 this not so with the honey-bee? If a pure Italian 

 queen meets a black drone, her drone progeny will, 

 I believe, to a certain extent, become hybridized; 

 not because any of the semen vivifies the drone 

 egg, for that, in all probability, is not the case, but 

 because the system of the queen has absorbed from 

 the semen certain of its properties, which ever after 

 remain; and while it certainly does not amount to 

 complete hybridization, it does contaminate, as I 

 believe, to a certain extent, and is always increasing. 

 Now, for this reason I urge our queen-breeders to 

 be careful not to breed from the drone progeny of 

 hybridized queens. This subject, however, is an 

 open one; and I have written at this time only for 

 the reason that my former article was misunder- 

 stood; and I now express the hope that our friends 

 will look into this matter, and ascertain for them- 

 selves whether my views are correct or not; and I 

 sincerely hope, also, that nothing will be left undone, 

 either in theory or practice, to preserve unsullied 

 the purity of our Italian bees. 



J. E. Pond, Jr. 

 North Attleboro, Mass., March C, 1882. 

 I do not think we have misunderstood you 

 very much, friend Pond ; for from what you 

 have just written above, I should hardly 

 think you would pass muster as an orthodox 

 disciple of J^ather Dzierzon. There may be 

 a little truth in what you say ; but is it 

 enough to be perceptible to our eyes, think 

 you ? 



THE CHIPPING SPARROW, AN ENEMY' 

 TO THE REES. 



fl HE following is an extract from Part I V . 

 _ of the Birds of North America : — 



While in their winter quarters, the chipping spar- 

 rows have no characteristic habits, other than those 

 exhibited l)y many of the fringillino birds; neither 

 do they have any note, save the ordinary chirp of 

 alarm. Then, to recognize them, one must observe 

 quite closely. By the middle of April, when they 

 arrive in M«ssachusetts. they forget the life of Inac- 

 tivity which they led in the enervating climate where 

 they passed the winter, and display much energy. 

 At first, only the lively chipping song of the males is 

 to be heard at intervals along the hedge-rows, which 

 form a favorite perch for the birds; but a few days 

 later, every garden and lawn throughout the State 

 will have its attendant fay in the form of a chipping 

 sparrow. 



They watch their domains very closely, seldom 

 leaving the immediate vicinity of the dwellings. As 

 a natural result, from associating so much with hu- 

 man beings, these little sparrows become exceeding- 

 ly tame, being, in fact, half domesticated. They will 

 hop familiarb' about the porch in search of crumbs 

 and other bits of food, occasionally displaying confi- 

 dence enough in their friends to venture across the 

 threshold of the open door. 



About the middle of May the females can be seen 

 gathering material for their prettily constructed 

 nests, which are often placed on some tree close to 

 the bouse. The eggs are deposited about June 1st, 

 the young making their appearance by the 15th. At 

 this time the chipping sparrows are nearly insectivo- 

 rous, feeding largely on such destructive insect lar- 

 vte as the canker and currant worms. Although 

 thus conferring a benefit upon mankind, they are 

 not alwavs as useful, for they are accused, and I fear 

 justly, of killing honey-bees for food. I have fre- 

 quently seen several of them thus employed at one 

 time. They would alight on the top of the hives or 

 on some overhanging limb, and dart down at the re- 

 turning bees, like tly- catchers ; then, having se- 

 cured their prey, would alight on the ground in or- 

 der to be.at it in pieces before swallowing it. I have 

 observed that the chipping sparrows assemble in the 

 neighborhood of apiaries, in considerable numbers. 

 I have found twenty or more nests, in a single sea- 

 son, all built in an orchard, near which stood several 

 hives. 



In spite of the above-mentioned mischievous pro- 

 pensity, our lively little friends are general favorites, 

 usually finding a hearty welcome, and will amply re- 

 ward the husbandman for the protection which he 

 affords them, by destroying large numbers of nox- 

 ious insects. 



By September, the young and adults flock to the 

 cultivated fields in order to feed on the newly ri- 

 pened seeds of weeds, which once more form their 

 principal diet. They then associate with large num- 

 bers of other birds, such as the field and Savannah 

 sparrows, grass finch, and many other members of 

 this family, departing with them when they migrate 

 southward. 



I am told that the chipping sparrow dif- 

 fers from our common ground chipping 

 bird, by the habit of building its nest only in 

 trees or low bushes. The common builds 

 only on the ground. I am inclined to think 

 the chipping sparrow only occasionally has 

 this habit of catching bees, in common with 

 other birds. Common fowls, we are told, 

 have learned the habit, in some cases, but 

 we are quite sure they do not do it as a usual 

 thing. I have often seen chipping birds 

 picking up the immature bees and larva;, 

 brought out in the morning from the hives, 

 but I never saw them catch live bees. It will 

 be w^ell to keep an eye on the matter, for we 

 have birds of different kinds visiting our 

 apiary in a rather suspicious way, almost 

 every season. The only two we are sure of 

 is the king bird, and a sort of swallow, or 

 martin. 



