322 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 21, 18G0. 
from this or other causes, I am doubtful. To boil the water 
and leave it would possibly be ineffective, as the worm may be 
from an egg deposited by a fly, as the common caterpillar; or a 
better illustration would be the gnat, which lays its egg in the 
water. I find, as in the case of all other parasites, they are first 
seen on those subjects impoverished. I And healthy, vigorous 
birds are free from them, though I am aware it is difiicult to 
prove if the unhealthy condition be the cause or the effect. The 
turpentine on a feather is a sure cure, if taken in time. You told 
me you were making some experiments, I think, on the water. 
Young birds are dying this season by wholesale. I know several 
keepers who have lost hundreds. I have thought of sending 
some specimens to the Entomological Society. Those I have 
found in water are darker in colour, and larger in size; but this 
may be accounted for by the different elements they are existing in, 
A friend of mine tells me you have published a little treatise 
on rearing Pheasants. I should like to see this, and what you 
there say on this subject. Most mistaken ideas prevail as to the 
way they cause death. The presence of these vermin in the wind¬ 
pipe causes difficulty of breathing, which is greatly increased by 
the exertion of feeding, consequently they die of inanition. I 
should be very pleased to hear your opinion of my theory. 
I this year have a white Pheasant alone with a cock. She has 
laid thirty-seven eggs, all addled. How is this ?— Suffolk. 
BUGS AND MARTENS. 
I believe some individuals of Swallows and Martens are 
sometimes much infested by a kind of fly, called, I think, the 
Ornithomca ; the young of which, somewhat resembling a bug, 
are, perhaps, mistaken by your correspondents for that dis¬ 
agreeable insect. This fly, I am informed, is analagous to the 
Hippobosca, or New Eorest Fly, so troublesome to horses. 
Would it not be advisable for your correspondents to submit 
some of these insects to the inspection of some competent ento¬ 
mologist, who would, doubtless, clear up the fact ?—B. P. Biient. 
LIGURIAN BEES—FEEDING BEES. 
On the 22nd ult. I joined a Ligurian queen to a stock in a 
common straw hive, and on Friday, the 10th inst., I observed 
that they had thrown out a great many drones like the enclosed. 
Can you tell me if these are Ligurian drones, or the common 
ones ? Would you also be so good as to say, if the food given to 
bees—viz , sugar and honey, will do for them feeding their 
young on, as I fancy I now have two hives with Ligurian queens 
doing well; only the weather here is so much against them, 
that I do not think they can get much honey from the flowers, 
as we have not seen the sun for this last week, and have had 
rain nearly every day, and no signs of a change. I also observe 
my glass hives are turning out both old and young drones. 
I got only a few Ligurian bees with one queen, and the other 
day picked up one dead, and to-day have found another. What 
do you think is the cause of their death ? Messrs. Neighbour 
say the black bees always kill the Ligurian, but they have not 
done so with me.—J. W. W. 
[The drones enclosed by our correspondent are of the common 
species (Apis mellifica). Drones take twenty-four days at the 
very least to come to maturity, so that they could not possibly 
be tlie offspring of the Ligurian queen. Neither sugar nor honey 
will alone suffice for the sustenance of brood. Pollen is certainly 
requisite, and for this rye meal has been recommended as a sub¬ 
stitute. We hear the same unfavourable accounts of the honey 
season from all quarters. Single deaths amongst bees are of con¬ 
stant occurrence, and it is quite impossible to assign a reason for 
each. Workers accompanying a strange queen are generally 
slaughtered, but the exceptions to this rule are numerous.]] 
DRONE BEES VISITING VARIOUS HIVES. 
Tiiat drone bees may enter with impunity any hive in which 
the male sex is tolerated was a well-known laet long before the 
existence of the present generation of bee-keepers ; but it is 
equally certain that they very seldom avail themselves of this 
privilege. A sufficient proof of this is often afforded by one 
stock in an apiary commencing the annual destruction of drones 
some time before the others, in which case it will be found that 
as a rule the unfortunates submit to their fate without attempt¬ 
ing to prolong their existence by seeking tho friendly shelter of 
another hive. During the unseasonable persecution which de¬ 
stroyed the great majority of my Ligurian drones in June, I 
succeeded in rescuing a few from destruction, by introducing 
them into hives in which the queens were in course of develop¬ 
ment ; but the drones themselves, in no one instance, appeared 
to seek of their own accord the safe harbour of these cities of 
refuge. I had hopes of throwing some light upon this question 
of interbreeding when commencing the rearing of Ligurian queens; 
but, unfortunately, the queen whose true impregnation was to 
have enlightened me on the point, fell a victim to her own mistake 
in attempting to enter an adjoining hive on returning from a 
nuptial excursion. My own opinion is, that queen bees in a state 
of nature are almost always fertilised by the offspring of the same 
mother. The locating a number of stocks in a limited space is 
altogether artificial. Colonies of bees in their natural state are 
generally at a distance from each other, and in this case inter-- 
breeding is certain. Even in crowded apiaries I believe the 
probabilities to be in favour of the same result; whilst the fact 
that no queens are produced in the spring until there are drones 
in the same hive to fertilise them, and that drones are preserved 
in queenless stocks in autumn, impels me to the conclusion that 
Nature has so constituted a colony of bees as to render it in all 
respects a self-propagating community.—A Devonshire Bee- 
keepeb. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Pigeon Cote infested by Bugs (A. S. L. M .).—Try the Gishurst Com¬ 
pound. Its proprietors say that it destroys them. We never heard of 
bugs driving Pigeons from their nests before. Do Martens build about 
the cote J 
Poultky Advertisement (J. B. XI .).—For five lines (about sixty words) 
three shillings and sixpence ; and sixpence for every additional line. 
Disease in Pigeons. —Can any of your readers inform me of a cure for 
a disease which proved fatal to a few of my birds ? They droop and de¬ 
cline gradually, getting quite rigid and stiff long before death. I have had 
them eight days in life after becoming powerless, and when crammed the 
Beans stuck in the throat until pressed down. Their feathers keep smooth 
and unruffled. I should be glad to learn the nature of this disease, and a 
cure, if possible.—J. K. 
[We do not know anything of this disease. What are the preliminary 
symptoms 1—Eds.] 
Sickness in Fowls (A. C. S .).—There must he some cause for the sick¬ 
ness of your fowls, yet all you have mentioned is in favour of their health, 
except the feeding on Indian corn. What is the flooring of your poultry 
house 1 Is it wood, stone, brick, or asphalte? If it is, the cause is partly 
there. What breed of fowls do you keep? Are they Brahmas, Cochins, 
Spanish, Hamburghs, or Game? They will bear the confinement best. 
Were they healthy when first put up ? If the floor be either of the above- 
named materials, and if it be inconvenient to remove them, cover it six 
inches deep in loose gravel. If the run affords no grass, give the fowls large, 
heavy-growing sods of it every day. Feed them three times per day on 
oatmeal slaked with milk, and precede each meal by some bread soaked in 
strong ale. If this does not answer, get rid of your sickly birds. Have 
the house lime-whited throughout, and begin afresh. In six week’s time, 
with a young stock of any of the aboTe breeds, you will have no trouble. 
Canary with Wounded Foot (Brahma ).—When Canaries are allowed 
wool, silk, or even cotton to build their nests with, they are very apt to 
get it entangled about their feet. The fine threads get drawn tight round 
the toes and buried in the flesh and produce the sores your correspondent 
complains of. If not relieved it will cause the toes to drop off. Let 
“ Biiahma ” examine the cuts, and with a needle prick out the fine threads 
or hairs that are there hidden, and the sores will soon heal. Care should 
he taken not to allow the bird anything likely to twist about the feet again. 
I know very little of the diseases of cage birds. No doubt there are many, 
hut few have come under my notice. I am inclined to think the greater 
number arise from over-feeding, too stimulating food, carelessness, and 
mismanagement. We do not know of a really good hook on the diseases of 
cage birds, and shall feel greatly obliged if any of our correspondents will 
oblige us with any remedies they may have found efficacious. If all will 
oblige us, we do not doubt of being able to offer a summary of cures that 
may be useful to fanciers. Each contributor, while imparting information, 
will derive mutual benefit.—B. P. Brent. 
LONDON MARKETS.— August 20. 
FQFLTBY. 
The London season is over, and the market feels the effect of it. The 
supply is, however, as it has been all the year—very moderate. Grouse 
have come in plentifully. Those from the English moors are very good; 
and the young birds are in a large majority, while the Scotch boxes are full 
of old birds, and many of those very skeletons. 
•Each— s. d. s. d. 
Large Fowls. 4 0 to 4 6 
Smaller Fowls. 3 0 ,, 3 (> 
Chickens . 1 9 „ 2 6 
Geese. 6 6 ,, 7 0 
Goslings . 0 0 ,, 0 0 
Ducks . 2 G „ 3 3 
Ducklings. 0 0 „ 0 0 
Turkeys. 
Each— s. 
. 0 
d. 
0 
to 
s, 
0 
d. 
0 
Guinea Fowls 
. 0 
0 
0 
0 
Pigeons. 
. 0 
7 
0 
8 
Grouse . 
2 
6 
ft 
4 
0 
Leverets . 
. 3 
6 
4 
0 
Babbits. 
. 1 
4 
1 
5 
Wild ditto. 
. 0 
8 
ft 
0 
9 
