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Most ViewedAn Experiment 2An Experiment Time Of Greatest Irritability Expense Of Renewing Combs Burying Bees Remedial Experiments Bees Do Not Increase If Full After The First Year In Same Hive Bee Pasturage One Like Common Hive Preferred Not Properly Understood Least ViewedAn Experiment 2An Experiment Time Of Greatest Irritability Expense Of Renewing Combs Burying Bees Remedial Experiments Bees Do Not Increase If Full After The First Year In Same Hive Bee Pasturage One Like Common Hive Preferred Not Properly Understood |
King-bird One Word In His FavorCategory: ENEMIES OF BEES. The king-bird stands at the head of the list of depredators! With a fair trial he will be found guilty, though not so heinously criminal as many suppose. I think we shall find him guilty of taking only the drones. In the afternoon of a fair day he may be seen perched upon some dry branch of a shrub or tree near the apiary, watching for his victims, occasionally darting to seize them. I have shot him down and examined his crop, after seeing him devour a goodly number; but in every instance the bees were so crushed to pieces, that it was impossible to distinguish workers from drones. We are told of great numbers of workers being counted. It may be so, or it may be thus represented by a spice of prejudice. I have found the brutal gratification of taking life so strong with some, that a natural antipathy is allowed to take the place of justice, and a proper defence is not allowed in such cases where the suffering party has not the power to enforce it. If he was satisfied with workers as well as drones, why does he not visit the apiary long before noon, and fill his crop with them? But instead, he waits till afternoon for the drones; and if none are flying, he watches quietly till one appears, although workers may be out by hundreds continually. If the question is asked, how they tell the difference in the two kinds of bees, I might suggest that _instinct_ has taught most animals the proper kind of food, and might direct the birds in this case. If it was not sufficient, a little experience in catching bees provided with stings, might impart the important difference, in one or two lessons. I once had a chicken that knew the difference by some means, and would stand by the hive and devour every drone, the moment it touched the board, while the workers would pass by him in scores untouched! Now, whether this taking the drones is a disadvantage or otherwise, would depend entirely upon circumstances. If honey was a little scarce, the less we had of them the better; it would also save the bees some trouble in dispatching them. It is probably a matter of so little moment to our bees, that it will not pay for powder to shoot them. Martins, and a kind of swallows, are said to be guilty of taking bees on some occasions; but as they pursue them on the wing (if they do), the same remarks will apply as to the king-bird. Next: Cat-bird Acquitted Previous: Are All The Birds Guilty?
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