THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
135 
| November 28.] 
I unceiled cells ; and this I will quickly show is an unanswerable 
I objection, whatever may be thought of the former. For 
j where, let me ask, do the bees huddle together on the 
; approach of cold weather but among the earliest-built 
j combs, which are generally the largest ? Of this A. M. E. It. 
will speedily convince himself (or anybody else) if lie will, 
after reading this, turn up his new hives and examine them. 
And there they will remain for the next four or five months,— 
then they will commence the operations of the new year,—and 
then, of course, they will first clear the combs of whatever 
food they may contain, as saving them the trouble and peril 
of moving; and, be it remembered, these are the very combs 
in which A. M. E. R.'s honey has been stored. I conclude, 
\ therefore, that it is well at no time to feed artificial stocks, 
I reared according to the plan recommended by me, on pure 
honey, as being both expensive and useless. The food 
throughout should be of a uniform quality ; or, if otherwise, 
rather improving in quality after the first fortnight's feeding. 
A. M. E. R.’s objection to my plan—viz., that the surplus 
food above the winter’s consumption might be spoiled—will 
be removed if the stock be fed up to fifteen or sixteen 
pounds only, net weight, in October; for this will keep the 
bees alive till the following April or May ( according to the 
season), at which time a similar mixture might be given 
them (perhaps a little less to their liking than the food 
supplied in autumn, so that they may not be tempted to eat 
it in preference to then- stores), in quantities of half a 
pound per week at a time, until it was evident that honey 
abounded. In this way very little, if any, of the autumn- 
supplied mixture wall 'survive the spring demand of the 
increasing brood. As to its candying or spoiling (unless, 
indeed, water is a principal ingredient in its composition) in 
| the ceiled cells, I cannot imagine it, where honey itself so 
I stored would not spoil or candy in like manner. 
If, however, I am obliged to disapprove altogether of your 
! correspondent’s proposal in the early part of his communi- 
- cation, I must do him the justice to say that the suggestions 
put forth by him in the latter part of it are very valuable, 
i He has, in fact, partly anticipated me in a similar recom¬ 
mendation of my own, which I had already committed to 
paper some weeks ago, in the manuscript of a work on bee 
! management (suggestive of an improved and, in some 
! respects, novel system), which I hope to have shortly in the 
I press. I would have transcribed it here but for the too 
! great length of the passage, and the want of time. Suffice 
it to say that I advise, in preference to converting a super or 
duplet into an artificial stock, the preserv ation of a triplet 
for this purpose, or, still better, of a nadir (on the storifyiny 
| system) : the triplet as interfering less with the spoil of the 
bee-master, and the nadir (into which the swarm is sure 
almost to descend) because of the opportunity afforded to it 
for the conversion of the old stock into a new colony, after the 
removal by excision of a third of its combs. Being so treated 
every year, it might be preserved to an indefinite existence. 
On the collateral system, on the other hand, I recommend 
the old box to be shifted to the right or left, and its place 
supplied by an empty box, through which the bees shall 
pass into the open air. If plenty of additional room, in the 
j shape of bell-glasses or small supers, be supplied over the 
1 stock hive, the side box will be found generally full of comb, 
| well stored with pollen, and only a third full (or even less) 
of honey ; for the bees always prefer to store over their main 
, domicile, whither they will transfer their stores from the 
side box when the weather is unfavourable to their moving 
out of doors and adding to their treasures. This hive will 
prove a mosfivftTtrable boon to the new colony of preserved 
i bees, who will require but a comparatively small supply of 
prepared food, while at the same time the bee-master’s 
i harvest of honey will not be so greatly trespassed upon. 
According to A. M. E. It’s plan, he would find that the 
bees would consume a large quantity of the already-stored 
honey in the combs (which remain after he has cut out his 
share), or of the prepared food with which he supplies 
them, hi replacing the removed combs; this they will be 
almost stue to do. A Country Curate. 
ENGLISH CAGE BIRDS. 
THE SONG THRUSH. 
Insessores Dentirostres. Merulidje. 
Turdus musicus; Merula mnsica: The Throstle; The 
Thrush; Common Thrush ; Garden Thrush; Maris. 
This is one of our most beautiful song birds; easily kept , 
in confinement, and readily reared from the nest; its food 
consisting of berries, worms, and snails, and, indeed, insects 
of all kinds. It will also thrive on the paste of oatmeal 
alone. I always reared from the nest those I kept, which 
I did easily by feeding them on oatmeal paste, made pretty 
stiff, with an occasional worm or piece of meat, and at the 
same time giving them after feeding (which was usually 
about every half hour) a little water; this is best done by 
means of a syringe, which by gentle pressure allows a drop 
or two to trickle through the nozzle of the syringe into the i 
bird’s mouth, and which nozzle resembles pretty much the 
beak of its parent. It is a principal ingredient of success in | 
the rearing of young birds to keep them exceedingly warm, 
and I used to do this by covering them either with wool or ; 
flannel, taking- especial care to remove the dirt contained in 
the natural bag, by means of a pair of pincers, immediately : 
that it is evacuated ; and it is of importance that the plumage 
is not daubed or soiled by the paste, for if so, the birds will 
become sickly, and eventually will perish. 
Young birds are very subject to cramp; this is often ob¬ 
viated by mixing with the prepared oatmeal paste a quantity 
of gritty matter, such as bruised old mortar, or road grit, 
which acts as a scour in their stomach, and when cramped 
will often relieve that state. The oatmeal paste should be 
made fresh every day, and in the heat of summer even twice 
a day, for if it becomes sour it will produce diarrhoea, and 
kill the nestlings in a short time. It is better if the oatmeal 
paste be made with milk instead of water—that containing 
much animal matter. 
By rearing young birds from the nest, the following year 
you are sure to have them breeding, which, to a true lover of 
birds, is very desirable. “When I kept them, mine bred every 
year; and I was much amused and delighted to watch the 
birds making their nest, and rearing their tender offspring. 
I supplied them with a quantity of moss, and having several 
fir-trees planted in the aviary, they provided themselves with 
a suitable position for their nursery. Both birds assist in 
building, but the female is most busy, and eventually com¬ 
pletes it. After having laid the foundation, by dropping 
large pieces of moss on the branch of the fir-tree near to its 
stem, the bird then lowers itself in a squatting position, and 
with its feet scratches, as it were, the moss into something 
like regularity, at the same time partially spreading its wings 
as if to keep the moss within its grasp; it then moves in a 
circular direction, and weaves, as it were, with its feet again ; 
and this it does until it has described a circle, pushing with 
its beak here and there a stray bit which its wings may not 
have encompassed ; and thus in one day, as I have often ob¬ 
served, will it have diligently toiled to the completion of its 
nest, as far as the form and shape. On the following day, 
the lining the nestis the next process, which is done by the 
bird seeking out some muddy place, collecting the mud in its 
beak, and dropping it in the nest, then preparing to plaster 
it round the nest by turning itself round, describing the 
circles as before, and thus by its breast rubbing the mud 
against the rough interior of the mossy nest. This is re 
