THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



273 



action was brought by the pursuer for 

 5.00, the value of a swarm of bees. 



The pursuer resided with his 

 mother, Mrs. AHison in Glenluce. 

 He was from home the morning the 

 bees swarmed, and his mother (an 

 old woman) was watching the bees. 

 She saw they were working as likely 

 to swarm. Her garden, where were 

 the bees, runs along the roadside. 

 She went in the house for some ten 

 minutes, and when she came out, 

 she saw the defenders standing on 

 the road beside a horse and cart. 



The bees during her absence had 

 come off, and the two men were hiv- 

 ing them into a skep. 



She went forward and told the 

 men the bees were hers. They said 

 she was too late in coming, and she 

 replied she was here now. She did 

 not see the bees leave the skep, but 

 she knew they had come out of her 

 garden. The defenders stuck to 

 them, and took them with them. 

 Other evidence was given to show 

 that when the bees were being 

 skepped, there were bees flying back- 

 ward and forward between this swarm 

 and the skep in the garden, and that 

 it was the habit of bees when they 

 came off, if they alighted in the 

 neighborhood of the place, to keep 

 coming and going in this way. 



There were no other bees hived 

 in Glenluce that day. 



The evidence of the defenders 

 was to the effect that they were pass- 

 ing into Glenluce when they discov- 

 ered this swarm of bees hanging to 

 a branch on the side of the road. 

 They were on the opposite side of 

 the road from Mrs. Allison's garden. 

 There was no one there looking after 



them, and they considered they had 

 a right to take possession of them. 

 McKie remained with the bees, and 

 Lockrie went for a skep. 



After they had got them into the 

 skep, and were putting the cloth over 

 them, Mrs. Allison came, and looked 

 over the bank, and said, " Men, these 

 bees are mine." McKie replied that 

 she was too late of coming, and that 

 she had been rather careless about 

 her bees. He was detained about 

 an hour over the bees. Mr. McFad- 

 yean contended that according to the 

 law, as laid down by Erskine, when 

 bees hived and got away, they re- 

 covered their natural liberty, and be- 

 came the same as wild birds, the 

 property of the first person who cap- 

 tured them again. 



The sheriff said he had a great re- 

 spect for Erskine, and would be 

 sorry to upset the law of Scotland, 

 but he would be still more sorry to 

 allow an old woman's bees to be 

 taken in this way within five yards of 

 her own door, because they had 

 swarmed when she was absent for a 

 few minutes, and she had not in- 

 stantly pursued them. He thought 

 this was a barefaced case of appro- 

 priation of another person's property. 

 It was a case that should never have 

 been defended. For two respectable 

 men to appropriate another's bees 

 in this way was disgraceful. It was 

 all very well to quote an old law that 

 when bees got away they became 

 wild ; but he could not hold that 

 they had got away or were wild, so 

 long as they were within a few yards 

 of the house to which they belonged. 

 He gave decree for £1 and expenses. 



