FARMERS' REGISTER— WINTER FOOD OF BIRDS. 



699 



" Then, cheerful bee, come, freely come, 

 And travel round my woodbine bower! 

 Delight me with thy wandering hum, 

 And rouse me from my musing hour ; 

 Oh ! try no more those tedious fields, 

 Come taste the sweets my garden yields : 

 The treasures of each blooming mine, 

 The bud — the blossom — all are thine." 



In some papers published a few years ao;o iu the 

 " Plain Englishman,'"' I endeavored to point out 

 the great cruelty of procuring honey by the suifo- 

 cation of l)ces, and the advantage which the bee 

 owner would derive from contenting himself with 

 a part only of their stores. This may be done by 

 placing a small hive glass, or even a flower ])nt,on 

 the top of each hive in April or Slay. These 

 should be of a size to hold about eight or ten 

 pounds' weight of honey ; and in a tolerably good 

 season they will generally be filled, leaving a suf- 

 ficient stock of honey for the bees to subsist upon 

 till the following spring. I am happy to find that 

 this method is more generally practised than it 

 formerly was. By adopting it, the lives of thou- 

 sands of these industrious insects would be saved ; 

 the profits of the bee owner would be much more 

 considerable, and his stock of bees annually in- 

 creased. 



The summer of the year 1818, I observed be- 

 fore, was unusually dry and hot, and in July, flow- 

 ers of almost every description had entirely dis- 

 appeared. I observed that bees, in consequence 

 of this, seldom left their hives in search of honey, 

 though the weather, one would have thought, 

 would have tempted them out. They seemed, in- 

 deed, to be perfectly aware that their labors would 

 be useless. I recollect meeting with an account 

 of a hive of bees being transported from a distant 

 place, to a spot by the side of a mountain in Italy, 

 where they could procure honey all the year 

 round. Finding this to be the case, they soon 

 gave up stocking their hive, and only went out to 

 collect honey as they wanted it. The same obser- 

 vation has been made on bees taken out from this 

 country to the West Indies, who the first year 

 stored their hive as usual, and never afterwards, 

 merely supplying themselves with food from day 

 to day. 



Nothing can be more extraordinary than the 

 way in which bees find their way back to their 

 hive. Place it amongst hundreds of others, ex- 

 actly similar in outward appearance, or at the top 

 of a house in London,* or concealed in the thick- 

 est wood, and the bee will regain it v.ithout the 

 slightest apparent difficulty. Huber says they fly 

 to it with an extreme rapidity, and as straight as a 

 ball from a musket. Nothing can show more for- 

 cibly the wonderful instinct which has been given 

 to these insects, by Almighty God. If they ex- 

 perienced any difficulty in finding their homes, how 

 much time would be lost, and how inadequate 

 would all their labors and industrj' be, to furnisli a 

 sufficient store of honey to exist upon during the 

 winter ! I have always observed that when a fi-esh 

 hive has been brought to my garden from a dis- 

 tant place, the bees employ themselves on first 



_ * I was shown a fine glass of honey taken from a 

 hive of bees placed on the top of a house in Ilarley 

 street. 



leaving it, not in collecting honey, but in making 

 themselves acquainted with all the neighboring ob- 

 jects, and these objects may possibly serve to guide 

 them to their respective homes. 



AVIiVTER FOOD OF BIRDS. 



From Jesse's Gleanings in Natural History. 



" Birds are extremely important creatures for 

 the economy of nature in general. They destroy 

 innumerable insects, and the thoughtless extirpa- 

 tion of some birds, supposed to be noxious, such as 

 sparrows, crows, &c. has generally given rise to 

 an infinitely nu)re4jrejudicial multiplication of ver- 

 min." — Blumenhach. 



It is a general observation of the country peo- 

 ple, that when there is an unusual number of haw- 

 thorn and holly Ijerries, there will be a hard win- 

 ter. The remark is perhaps more true than is ge- 

 neraly supposed, and may be considered as a proof 

 of the care v.'hich is taken by an Almighty Power 

 of its creatures. How many birds would perish 

 during a severe winter if this provision had not 

 been made for them ! Even the circumstance of 

 some springs not freezing, is an instance of the 

 same goodness. If they did, the destruction of 

 animal life would be much greater than it now is. 

 At present many birds are able in hard weather 

 to find water and food. The robin, thrush, and 

 blackbird, with woodcocks and snipes, resort to 

 these springs, and are able to support life with the 

 worms and insec-ts they find in or by the side of 

 them, till more genial weather arrives. In deep 

 snow many birds frequent woods, where, amongst 

 old dead or decayed trees, and the bark of others, 

 they discover and feed upon insects. Horses and 

 deer scrape away the snow with their feet to get 

 at the grass, and hares and rabbits feed on the bark 

 of trees. The titmouse in frosty weather gets near 

 houses and picks meat from bones. The hedge- 

 sparrow and wren search at the bottoms of hedges, 

 where the snow has not penetrated, for insects. 

 The wood-pigeon feeds on the tops of turnips, 

 while sparrov.s, finches, yellowhammers, &c. get 

 info rick yards to satisfy their hunger. Most birds 

 therefore are able to procure some sort of suste- 

 nance during a hard winter ; and some animals re- 

 main during that period in a state of torpor, from 

 which the influence of the sun in spring revives 

 them. Insects appear but little affected by cold 

 weather, as we may see on the first mild day 

 after the severest frosts. Bees survive the coldest 

 winters in Russia, and afterwards lay up much 

 store of honey. 



We thus see that, however miserable the condi- ^ 

 tion of birds in severe weather may appear to a 

 cursory observer, they have resources provided for 

 them in various ways. The same beneficent Be- 

 ing who created them, provided at the same time 

 means for their subsistence. It is man who occa- 

 sions the chief miseries of the creatures which sur- 

 round him. When, however, we consider that 

 these creatui-es are the objects of God's care, how 

 careful ought we to be never to inflict any unne- 

 cessary pain or misery upon them. I should not 

 think kindly of that man who could wantonly put 

 his foot on a worm which was crossing his path, or 

 destroy a fly for the gratification of doing so. 



