. The A B C of bee culture: a cyclopaedia of every thing pertaining to the care of the honey-bee. K. SUfG-- BXRSS. Quite a number of the tVatlieieil tiilies liave a fashion of eating bees. Even our connnon fowls sonu'tinies get into the habit of gobbling them, witli as little fear of coiiseiiuences as if they were the most harmless insect in tlie world. It is quite likely tliat birds have a way of crush- ing their prey with their bills so as to pre- vent the possibility of the bees using its sting. It has been suggested that the birds and fowls eat only the drones ; but several examinations of
. The A B C of bee culture: a cyclopaedia of every thing pertaining to the care of the honey-bee. K. SUfG-- BXRSS. Quite a number of the tVatlieieil tiilies liave a fashion of eating bees. Even our connnon fowls sonu'tinies get into the habit of gobbling them, witli as little fear of coiiseiiuences as if they were the most harmless insect in tlie world. It is quite likely tliat birds have a way of crush- ing their prey with their bills so as to pre- vent the possibility of the bees using its sting. It has been suggested that the birds and fowls eat only the drones ; but several examinations of their crops showed that it is, without (luestion, the workers, and it is (|uite probable that the honey contained in the lioney - sac is the principal inducement. Mr. T. L. "VVaite, of Berea, O., furnishes some very positive evidence, and also men- tions a habit of the king-bird, I think is not generally known to naturalists. During the month of June, '72, a flock of seven of these birds were making such regular and con- , slant visits to his apiary that his suspicions were aroused, and, concealing himself, witli watch in hand, he observed a single bird snap up o to 8 per minute. After having | pursued this '"innocent" amusement for a sutiicient interval, his birdship was in the habit of taking a rest on a neighboring tree, where, after a slnut meditation, he com- menced a series of muscular contortions of the head and neck, that tinally resulted in liis opening his mouth wide, and "heaving up"' a wad of .some strange black-looking sub- stance. By chance their perch was close over a bed of rhubarb or iiie-i)lant, and our friend secured a number of these wads as they fell, and thus settled tlie i)oint of their being nothing more nor less than crushed bees. After they had ''squeezed"' out all the honey, probably having no further use for the "pomace," it was unceremoniously cast aside, while his worship, with a keen ap- petite and zest for
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Keywords: ., bookauthorrootaiam, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1891
