March 25. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
403 
fully attended to, for, from the mildness of the winter, 
! breeding lias been going on for some time, and, conse¬ 
quently, an unusually heavy demand is being made upon the 
stores of the hives, which if not timely supplied by feeding, 
famine will bo the consequence; and of all other kinds of 
food (except honey in the combs) barley-sugar will be found 
to be the easiest to supply, as well as the best food. 
Floor-boards.-—I t will be well to give the floor-boards a 
final cleaning for the season, and the middle of a bright day 
will be the best time for doing it; and, at the same time, 
any pieces of comb that during the winter may have fallen 
[ from the top of the hives, and are fastened by the bees to 
the bottom of the combs that are in their proper places, 
should be removed. 
Cutting out Old Combs, —This is also the best time to 
remove a leaf or two of comb from old hives, perhaps the 
j two outermost ones, but not anymore; the box-hives are 
admirably adapted for this operation; still, with a proper 
knife (the one figured in my Bee-Keeper’s Guide), it may 
easily be effected in the straw hive. 
Drone Bees. —Drones will probably make then’ appear¬ 
ance in some of the strongest hives about the end of the 
month; a sure proof this that the stocks from which they 
issue are in a thriving and prosperous state. 
Putting on Glasses, &o. —It is very probable that at the 
end of the month some of the most populous hives may 
require supering, as it is termed, but I would advise its not 
being done too soon, indeed, not till the bees have shown 
evident signs of want of room, for it is exceedingly desirable 
that the stock should be in such a state as to ascend into 
-the super immediately upon its being placed upon the stock 
hive. 
Guide-comb. —It will be found that by placing a piece or 
two of white comb at the top of the glasses, the bees will be 
induced to commence their operations more readily. 
Robbers. —Care must now be taken to guard against 
robbers, by narrowing the entrance of every hive that is 
attacked by them, and that upon its being first discovered, 
for in a few hours they will do considerable mischief. I 
have found wedges of cork to answer' admirably well for this 
purpose. 
Young Bees. —I have, for the last few days, seen young 
bees in my strongest hives (now the 10th of March), which 
shows that breeding began earlier than usual this season, 
therefore, in such hives, and, indeed, in all, feeding must be 
carefully attended to. 
Bees Forsaking their Hives. —There has been more of 
this lately than usual. I have seen several instances of it; 
indeed two in my own apiary, one leaving in the hive twenty 
pounds of honey, and the other a larger quantity, the combs 
in both hives being perfectly dry and clean. 
Dr. Bevan. —I am happy to learn that the appeal made 
j to the apiarians in the neighbourhood of Hereford has so 
far been effectual, that our venerable friend Dr. Bevan’s 
apiary, which was washed away by the recent flood, has been 
replenished by the contribution of several stocks of bees, 
greatly to his gratification. It will further give pleasure to 
j many of our readers to find that a number of sympathising 
j apiarians have taken copies of the Doctor’s excellent publi¬ 
cation, “ The PIoney-Bee,” a work in itself of the greatest 
value, which, at the author’s advanced age, it is highly de- 
! sirable to turn to the pecuniary account it so well merits, 
; and which recent events have served to render more than 
ever an object of interest. In saying thus much, 1 have no 
fear of being misunderstood in any quarter.* 
* We hope it is no breach of confidence to add the following extract 
from Dr. Bevan’s letter :—“ I told you that I had constructed an edifice 
for the accommodation of my bees, which I denominated my Virgilian 
Temple. This was upraised by the impetuosity of the roaring torrent, 
and carried down the river, bees and all. The compassionate interest 
which they called forth, greater perhaps than that of their owners, in¬ 
duced several of my kind neighbours to tender me four well-stocked 
hives; and a party of apiarian friends at Birkenhead, who, fancying 
themselves under some obligation to me, and feeling that, as they are 
with others benignantly pleased to say, the loss of my apiary was a 
calamity afflicting to all apiarian cultivators, have most generously 
i clubbed together to ‘ rebuild the temple,’ which is now actually rising in 
our garden, and nearly completed. These evidences of beneficence have 
been almost overwhelming, and have tended greatly to reconcile me to 
the calamity which has befallen us, at the same time that it raises our 
opinion of human nature, enhanced as it is in this instance by its delicacy 
and grace of manner.” 
THE GOLDEN AND THE SILVER PHEASANTS. 
(Continued from page 386.) 
M. Temminck’s history of the Golden Pheasant, is as 
follows :— 
“ The species golden pheasant, if we are to believe Buffon, 
is only another variety of the common pheasant, which has 
increased in beauty under the influence of a finer climate. 
This opinion, which no naturalist has since adopted, is in 
reality erroneous. The knowledge spread by the light of 
the discoveries in natural history every day opens our eyes 
to similar errors; it requires that those who are tracing 
the history of animals inhabiting foreign, or little-known 
countries, should state nothing at random, by attributing to 
these species relationships with those which surround us, 
especially when the external forms do not assist in confirm¬ 
ing such affinities. Buffon, doubtless, would not have com¬ 
mitted this error had he been informed that the golden 
pheasant lives and breeds in the same country as the com¬ 
mon pheasant; that this latter, extremely common in the 
north of China, has there retained the same forms, and the 
same colours, as in our own climate, and that in a wild state 
it never intermingles with the golden pheasant. 
“ The golden pheasant is tolerably common in our me¬ 
nageries, still not so much so as either the silver or the 
ring-necked pheasant, both of which are of a more robust 
nature, resisting better the humidity of our climate. Golden 
pheasants are much more delicate, and more difficult to 
rear, but the manner of treatment is the same. In captivity 
more males arc commonly hatched than females (consequently 
there is a superabundance of cocks in the market). 
“ The entire length of the male is two feet ( pieds ) ten 
inches (ponces), the tail alone twenty-three inches; the 
upper part of the head is covered with loose - webbed 
feathers, of a beautiful yellow; the sides of the head or the 
cheeks have small feathers thinly sprinkled over the skin, 
the colour of which is livid ; the feathers of the occiput are 
elongated, and extend over the sides of the neck in the 
form of a mantelet or capuchin ; at the tip they are cut at 
right angles by a brilliant orange, and striped transversely 
with black; the bird has the power of erecting these 
feathers as cocks do when they are fighting. 
“ The feathers of the nape of the neck are of a beautiful 
golden-green, terminating in a black band; the back and 
the rump are of a brilliant yellow; the upper coverts of the 
tail are of tire same colour, ending in scarlet-red; the 
throat is of a rufous red; the front of the neck, the breast, 
and all the other lower parts, arc of a lovely scarlet; the 
scapulars are deep blue, changing into a vivid violet; the 
secondary feathers and the wing coverts have different tints 
of cliesnut and brown ; the quill-featliers arc brown, marked 
with reddish spots, their outer margin is of this latter 
colour; the tail feathers are hollowed out like a reversed 
gutter (evases en youtiere retiversee), they are united in a 
bundle, and all the lateral feathers are, as it were, embraced 
by the two middle feathers ; these are longer than the others, 
which gradually decrease; they are variegated, and as it 
were, marbled with chesnut and black, the lateral feathers 
are striped obliquely with chesnut and black; above the tuil- 
feathers, other long and straight ones sitring, of a beautiful 
scarlet; the iris is of a dazzling yellow; the bill and feet 
are of a clear yellow; the tarsus has a spur. 
“ The female is a little smaller than the male, the feathers 
of the head are elongated, and the bird is able to raise 
them in the form of a crest. The upper parts of the head 
and neck, the back, the rump, the wing coverts, and those 
above the tail, are of a brown, more or less reddish; the 
throat is whitish, all the other lower parts are of a clear or 
yellowish brown, varied with brown spots; the feathers of 
the wings, and those of the tail, are of the same colour as 
those of the back, but they have transverse black bands; 
the tail, which is shorter than that of the male, is brown, 
the middle feathers have black bands, and the others have 
irregular marks of the same colour; the iris is yellowish 
hazel; the bill and feet are yellow. 
“ The food to be given to Chinese pheasants consists of 
rice, hemp seed, wheat, or barley; they eat also red cab¬ 
bages, grass, leaves, fruits, particularly plums and pears, 
insects are their favourite repast; this last article of diet is so 
