August 5. 
290 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
j hens have given me six eggs each weekly. My eggs have 
; varied in weight from three to four ounces each, and (I 
cannot agree with “ Subscriber ”) not inferior in flavour to 
Polish, or any other poultry. They are bad, uncertain 
nurses ; and, though their flesh is very good indeed, they 
are not favourites in the kitchen, from their dark legs. The 
j cooks call them “ crows.” Though the white-faced Spanish 
; are considered more valuable than the Minorca, and com- 
1 rnand the prizes at an exhibition, I am inclined to think 
! the Minorcas lay as large eggs as the white-faced, though, 
! as is usual (with ladies especially), looks go for something, 
and the latter are very much handsomer. 
Of Dorkings one cannot speak too highly: they are fair 
layers, good nurses, and capital as table fowls, but I do not 
think their eggs are as highly flavoured as Spanish, Game, 
or Polish, and I could wish them a little larger. I had 
a cross-bred Dorking and Spanish hen once, who was 
first-rate. 
Bolton Greys are certainly good layers, but they disap¬ 
pointed me; their eggs are small; and from their love of 
rambling, especially in the neighbourhood of plantations, 
however highly fed, one loses many eggs. They are bad 
nurses. Though small, they are very good to eat. 
Of Polish I need say little, after “ Subscriber’s ” remarks, 
with which I generally, though not entirely, agree. I 
admire them as much as he does. I think them excellent 
layers, though not better than the Spanish, and much 
. smaller eggs; but in the north, where I reside, I have found 
them (and I may add white Dorkings) rather delicate. This 
may be local, however. We are on cold clay; but I have 
had no difficulty in rearing Spanish chickens, of which I 
have now 130, having only lost five this year-. 
The conclusion to which I have come is, that the two 
breeds most desirable for the cottager or farmer to keep, 
whose object is “good returns,” or for the amateur who 
wants good supplies, are Spanish and Dorking. I have 
given a fair trial to Cochin-Chinas, having got the best birds 
I could buy; I own I am disappointed with them ; and I 
strongly suspect (however much I may incur the indigna¬ 
tion of “Anster Bonn” and your other correspondents, by 
such an idea) that the time is not far distant when others 
will come to this opinion, and that we shall find that the 
mania for Cochin-China fowls is on the decline.— Gallus. 
THE BEE SEASON. 
I A3t now looking with interest for reports, from different 
counties, of the present Bee season. I am sorry to say that 
here (West Somerset) our bees have had a wretched har¬ 
vest nearly throughout our best months, May and June, 
and, until this fine weather set in, the swarms could scarcely 
keep themselves ; they have gained weight since then, not¬ 
withstanding it is July. The old stocks that have swarmed 
are much in the same plight; and those that have not 
swarmed, which ought to have produced a box or two of 
honey, have not much more than they will require for 
winter store. I have not taken a pound of honey this 
season, but last year by this time (July 13) I had taken 
above two hundred-weight in glasses and boxes. We had a 
most excellent season last year in this locality; I took from 
one stock, last year, a box containing seventy-eight pounds 
of pure virgin comb, all made in about seven weeks, and left 
plenty for winter store. This was on the storifying system, 
which I have adopted, after trying different plans. I now 
use boxes, which I have been improving for some years, 
and have now so constructed as to be able to give the bees 
one or two boxes, or one, two, three, or four glasses at 
pleasure, with very simple management. I have this season 
reduced the depth of my boxes, from suggestions I read in 
The Cottage Gardener, and I think with great advantage. 
Your correspondent, “Doncaster,” in May 20tli number, 
expressed bis fears of the recommendation to remove the 
old stock and put the new swarm in its place, but I can 
assure him it is a safe practice; I generally do it, and to 
advantage, and I only remove the old stock a few yards, 
where 1 happen to have a vacancy.—J. W. 
COCHIN-CHINA FOWLS: THE LOVEL BREED. 
The Lovel breed of Cochin-China fowls (so called from 
having been imported by Captain Lovel) is said to be one 
of the purest stocks in the country. They are very much 
celebrated for compact beauty of shape and delicacy of 
fluff. They are good in colour, handsome in the head, 
abundantly booted, and particularly well-formed and full 
about the breast, but are not famous for great size. 
A Lovel cock, which I think myself fortunate in possess¬ 
ing, has this year been mated with some large imported 
hens, and I have every reason to expect, from the present 
appearance of the chickens, that this little deficiency in size 
of the Lovel breed will be corrected in them.— Anster 
Bonn. 
BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 
(Continuedfrom page 210.) 
THE WOODI.ABK. 
Insessores Conirostres. Alaudid.e. 
The Woodlark is by no means so abundantly distributed, 
nor so well known, as the Skylark; for, indeed, in some lo¬ 
calities it is scarcely or never seen; nevertheless, its sweetly 
varied and melodious strains have rendered it desirable by 
most people. In its habits, it differs from its companion, the 
Skylark-, in singing while perched on the branch of a tree, 
which the other does not; though generally its song is 
poured forth high in the air, and often unseen while sus¬ 
pended on the wing. Its song is considered to have less 
variety and power than the Skylark’s, but, on the other hand, 
it is of superior quality in tone and sweetness; and from its 
mellifluent, soft, and flute-like notes, is preferred by many 
persons. In its natural, or wild state, it may be observed 
taking its flight high in the air, describing circles as it rises, 
and gradually enlarging those circles as it ascends; and 
while performing these spiral whirls, uttering forth its plain¬ 
tive sweet song by the half-liom’ together; on descending 
from its “ giddy height,” it performs the same circular route, 
singing all the while, its cadences of song decreasing as it 
lowers itself to the earth, or branch of a tree. In this it 
differs again widely from the Skylark, whose uprising is in a 
more direct manner, while its descent to the earth is almost 
perpendicular, as if it fell by its own gravity, and is altoge¬ 
ther silent during that descent. The food of the Woodlark, 
in its wild state, consists mostly of insects, worms, seeds, 
and grain. It may be readily kept in confinement if caught 
wild, placed in a cage whose top is covered with cloth or i 
baize, to prevent the bird injuring itself by its attempts at 
escape upwards. A few worms, insects, crushed (not pounded ) i 
hempseed, or wheat, or ernbden groats, thrown into the 
bottom of the cage, it will readily, when impelled by hunger, 
pick up ; but it is well to place the cage in some corner 
where the bird may be left quiet and unobserved, as it is 
exceedingly shy and wild when first taken; but left to itself, 
it sooner becomes reconciled to captivity. It should be sup¬ 
plied with water in the cage in a shallow pan, which pan I 
usually cover with wirework, in order that the bird should 
not run into it and splash itself, which it would do in its 
endeavour to escape, and would become dirty from the sand, 
or other matter, with which the bottom of its cage was 
strewed, adhering to its wetted plumage; for this, like the 
Skylark, is a “ duster,” and not a “ washer,” and, therefore, 
would not readily disengage itself from the sticky mass 
