Page:A profitable instruction of the perfite ordering of Bees.djvu/37

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the first Treatiſe.
23

¶How the dead Bees may be reſtored to life againe. Cap. xix.

THe keeper of bees ought to foreſee and take heede, that the Bees peryſh not through ouer great heate, or ouer mighty cold. If at any time by a ſodaine ſhowre in the ſeeking for foode, Bees happen to be beaten downe, or nipped wyth a ſodaine colde (which ſeldome ſo commeth to paſſe that the Honny bees are ſo deceyued,) that harmed with the droppes, they lye grouelyng and flatte on the earth, as dead in a manner, then gather the Bees togyther, putting them into ſome veſſel for the nonce, which after ſet in a warm chamber or Parloure, & couer warme ymbers, beyng ſomewhat more the hote, on the Bees, whiche gently ſhake with the aſhes, but in ſuche ſorte that you tuche them not wyth your hande. And ſetting the Bees in the ſunne, and neare to their hiues, they will after recouer, and flie again into their cotages.

¶Of the battel that Bees ſometime haue among themſelues. Cap. xx.

VErgill writeth, that the Bees ſometines minding to fighte, do haſtily bruſt out of the Hiues, and as it were in ciuill battels among themſelues, do fight lyke ſtrangers one againſt the other, & ſmite eagerly in their fight one at an other. If ſo be one byue hath eſpecially two kings bred vp in the ſame, whych very well may be knowne, when as the bees cluſtered and heaped togiiher, doe repreſente or repreſſe as it were the forme of two beardes hangyng downe. Now theyr readineſſe to fight is knowen, when in the ayre is heard a greate ſounde and noyſe among the Bees lyke to the manner of Trumpets, whiles they fiercely and cruelly fighte togither among thēſelues, & in this battell they glitter with the wings, ſharpen the ſtings with their beakes, beare forth their breaſtes, and about the king they gather and ſwarme. So that they ſhoute wyth

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