188 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



necked bottles of sweetened beer, which they will eagerly 

 enter and get drowned therein ; the Bees are seldom 

 thus caught. Every wasp nest in the neighbourhood 

 should be sought for and destroyed ; and in the spring, 

 when only the Queens are in existence, it must be re- 

 membered that every wasp then caught prevents the 

 establishment of a nest. 



Insectivorous birds are sometimes very troublesome, 

 foremost of which stand the blue tit [Panes Cceruleus) 

 and the great tit (Parus Major). These birds, in the 

 winter time, when other insects are scarce, find an 

 abundant supply from the Bee-hives. It is said they 

 will stand at the doorway of the hives, stamp, and await 

 the unlucky Bee who seeks to know the business of the 

 visitor ; certain it is, that I have seen a rail, a few feet in 

 front of my hives, studded with Bee-stings in hundreds, 

 torn from the unfortunate victims, whose plump and 

 welcome bodies have formed the dinner of the tits, who 

 apparently reject the small portion which might prove 

 to them a discomfort. The fronts of the hives may be 

 fenced with a piece of wire-netting to outwit these 

 unwelcome visitors. 



Mice, sometimes, will take up their winter quarters 

 within a hive, feasting on the stores as occasion arises. 

 When perceived they should be captured and destroyed. 



"The titmouse and the 'pecker's ' hungry brood, 

 And Progne, with her bosom stained in blood. 

 These rob the trading citizens, and bear 

 The trembling captives thro' the liquid air." — Virgil. 



