160 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 5, 1860. 
successful, for I did not lose a single chicken, and they seemed 
to work all the harder for having to depend upon themselves. 
No chickens could thrive better. The hens laid again in ten 
days or a fortnight. Neither mothers nor chicks seemed to care 
much for their mutual loss.—G. Montagu. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
ORTOLANS AND RED GROUSE. 
Many curious facts may be noted in connection with certain 
birds. Let us, for instance, take tho Ortolan. This was formerly 
better known in England than it was a few years since. Gold¬ 
smith, speaking of Beau Tibbs says, “He would still have.an 
Ortolan, though he borrowed the guinea that paid for it.” 
Previous to 1S48, they were worth from a guinea to thirty 
shillings each ; but since then they have gradually decreased in 
price, till we do not despair of seeing them, like pine-apples and 
ices, become food for the million. 
This decrease in price, and the regular consumption of them at 
the tables of the wealthy, were caused by the French Revolution 
of 1848. During the short days of the Republic, it was dangerous 
to be an aristocrat.. Titles were abolished, and by order of Albert 
(workman), Flotte (cook), and their colleagues, equality reigned in 
France. It was a noble wish of Henry IV., that all Frenchmen 
should have a tl poule au pot ” every Sunday, but it would pass 
the bounds of romance to wish that the same should he said of a 
roast of Ortolans. But not only would their numbers be insuffi¬ 
cient, and their price “ prohibitory,” but to eat Ortolans would be 
a sign of luxury, that might be considered treasonous under a 
republic. We have heard that a clean shirt and polished boots 
sometimes got their owners into trouble. The man then who 
annually supplied Paris and the Court, found his avocation gone, 
and brought his birds to England. They laid the foundation of 
a considerable trade that is now carried on in them. 
It is curious, that although they abound in France, Belgium and 
Holland, they never visit this country. As among the numbers 
that are brought over alive some escape, and as a bird is supposed 
to rank among British ones as soon as two or three have been 
taken, we fully expect to have it claimed as one of ours in some 
forthcoming work. It is remarkable for the excessive fatness it 
attains, exceeding in that particular all other birds. 
The fact of the Ortolan not visiting England while it comes 
annually so near to it, is not more extraordinary than the fact of 
Rod Grouse being found only in the British Isles. It is true one 
is migratory while the other is not; but that does not interfere 
with the singularity of the circumstances, that one shonld stay 
so perseveringly here, and the other should always stop a few 
miles short. 
ANIMALS COUNTERFEITING LAMENESS 
AND DEATH. 
Those who have studied the natural habits of animals will 
know that some of them have the remarkable power of pretending 
lameness, and even death, when danger is apprehended. There 
are many such stories told of the Fox, some of which may be 
exaggerated ; but his cunning is proverbial, and may have given 
rise to the saying of a “ Fox’s sleep,” when one is considered to 
be awake, though his eyes are closed. However, there can be 
no question that Partridges pretend lameness on being grievously 
wounded, to draw off attention from their helpless brood. Nor 
can wc doubt that the many gyrations of Lapwings or Peewits 
wlh’e flying, or running on the ground, everywhere except near 
their nests or young, are intended to decoy egg-hunters away 
from them. But I have known one who understood their 
manoeuvres so well, that he would walk up to their nests almost 
a 9 easily as if he had previously known them. The art, how¬ 
ever, can only be acquired by much experience of the tricks and 
wailin^ cry of Lapwings during the breeding season. In general 
they lay only four eggs in a mere hollow in the ground, some¬ 
times lined with withered grass ; but they will lay again in new 
nests when they are robbed of their eggs. These fetch a good 
price; but from drainage and the cultivation of waste lands, 
Peewits, like some others of our British birds, which inhabit the 
moors and uplands, have become less plentiful of late years. 
Their young leave the nests shortly after they are hatched, and 
are very nimble on their legs. Boys know this, and also the 
trick of Tomtits pretending to be dead in their hands, and sud¬ 
denly flying off when opened. I have either read or heard of 
similar tricks practised by Wild Ducks, and have seen some¬ 
thing of the kind in wounded Herons. But the mo9t remarkable 
trick a of that sort was once played off upon myself by a Stork 
which a friend sent me. I gave Longlegs his 'liberty, but the 
next morning he was gone, and a boy reported he saw “ a 
comical fowl” near the sawpit, in which I observed my Stork 
lying apparently dead. I threw him out, and he lay motion¬ 
less for a time, and then suddenly “ took to his heels ; but after 
we got better acquainted, the Stork gave up his tricks, and 
walked about as freely as if he had been in Holland. 
This shamming death, however, appears more in some kinds of 
insects and their larvre. Children often amuse themselves by 
turning Beetles on their backs, where they remain a considerable 
time motionless. For instance: The pretty red “Ladybird. 
This white and black-spotted early visitor in spring, on the first 
glimpse cf Bunsliine, seems to do no injury to plants, unlike 
others of its family, and Woodlice. These with some kinds of 
Moths, their larvae, and, perhaps, many other kinds of insects 
have all their different ways of feigning death to escape danger 
Toads, also, are very remarkable for the same instinct, and after 
being wounded and crushed have been known to lie motionless 
a long time as if dead, till their boy-tormentors had left them as 
“ settled,” and then slowly gather up their legs and move away. 
—J. Wighton. 
.COATING HIVES WITH ROMAN CEMENT. 
In reply to a correspondent whose name is not given, and who 
wishes for information from any one who has tried the above as a 
protection for hives, I may state that I have adopted the plan 
in one instance, many years since. I do not like it, as it makes 
a heavy hive having anything but an ornamental appearance. 
Besides which it still requires protection, or covering, from the sun. 
It may have been accidental with me, but certainly the hive 
did not thrive well after it was coated with the cement, though 
it was a fine strong Btock before. 
Nor do I like paint for straw hives much better. I can see no 
advantage in it, as they must be quite as much protected from 
sun and rain as the unpainted ones. With moveable wooden 
cases that easily slip down over the hive and loose roofs, my 
straw hives will, after many years’ use, look almost a9 clean as 
when new. If economy bean object, a first-rate case may be made 
of a strip of thick, stiff old floor-cloth standing on edge, leaving 
an inch space all round. A roof of the same may be stitched to the 
ring. Some apertures for ventilation must be made where not 
conspicuous. But when hives are kept for swarming purposes 
only, there is nothing to my mind, either as regards appearance 
or usefulness, to equal the well-made straw packle, which, how¬ 
ever, must never be allowed to grow old and musty. It should 
be made thicker than is usually the case.—S. B. Fox, Exeter . 
APIARIAN NOTES.—No. VI. 
Bee-houses and Open Stands. —It is about fifteen years 
since I first established an apiary in my back garden in this city 
(Exeter), and from that time to this, both in England and Ire¬ 
land, I have always had bees in a more or less prosperous con¬ 
dition. Having tried numberless kinds of hives and boxes, my 
success during this long period has been very varied ; and the 
longer I keep bees, the more am I convinced that it is folly to 
lay down any decided rules as to what kind of hives must be 
kept; what material, wood or straw, must be used in their manu¬ 
facture ; or whether they must be protected in closed bee-houses, 
under open sheds, or on separate stands. All these plans at one 
time or another have been attended with success, and again have 
failed. Sometimes my bees have answered admirably in a close 
shed ; then a period of disheartening change has taken place, 
doubtless wrongly attributed to the house, which in consequence 
was discarded. In course of time it has been again tried, and 
good results have followed its adoption. I do not think the 
system had much to do with the cause of failure. We all know 
that an apiary may be in a fine state of prosperity one season, 
but in the next will disappoint all the expectations of the; owner, 
and this will occur with any kind of hive, and in any situation. 
I think “A Youxa Apiarian,” who wrote a few weeks ago, 
was much too lmsty in discarding his bee-house, which, from the 
description, would appear, with a little exception, to have been 
