204 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



shewed me that it is distinguished by its having 

 the three outer tail-feathers tipped with white. 

 It goes as far north, he says, as Norway ; and is 

 common in Russia. It is welcomed here as the 

 harbinger of spring, and yet the country people 

 call it the storm cock, because it is sometimes 

 heard in stormy weather, drowning the voice of 

 the other birds. It is particularly fond of building 

 in old ash trees overgrown with lichens. 



23rd. Franklin is going to have several 

 hives of bees, and is preparing an enclosure 

 for them, in which there will be some of their 

 favourite flowers ; it is placed near a rivulet, as 

 they use a great deal of water. They are par- 

 ticularly fond of mignonette, thyme, mustard 

 when left to go to seed, turnips, white clover, and 

 beans of all kinds. These are their principal 

 favourites ; and it is said they afford the purest 

 honey. Rosemary too is a favourite, but seldom 

 produces much honey in this country, unless the 

 season be warm and dry. It is worth cultivating, 

 however, my aunt says, being one of the principal 

 plants which gives the flavour to the famous 

 Narbonne honey. She has had some planted in 

 the warmest part of the, bee enclosure, or Franklin's 

 apiary, as Frederick calls it. There are several 

 lime, poplar, and erberry trees^ planted round 

 it ; and a broom hedge is sown outside. 



In a new swarm, their first care is to build cells 



