The Kingbird 



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from his home. One day, however, a naturalist connected with the United 

 States Department of Agriculture in Washington made a careful study of the 

 feeding-habits of the Kingbird. He found that, in truth, it did eat bees, but 

 that it appeared to eat only the drones ! 



We all know, of course, that there are two kinds of bees in a hive: one, the 

 workers that gather the honey and take care of the young, and the other the 

 drones who will not gather honey, will not hunt for pollen, and do not, in fact, 

 assume any of the duties around the hive. The drones are a little larger than the 

 workers, and these are the bees that the Kingbird appears always, or nearly 

 always, to capture. Perhaps the reason it does not disturb the workers is that 



A KINGBIRD'S NEST AND EGGS 



they have a sharp sting, while the drones have none. So widespread is the 

 mistaken notion that the Kingbird eats useful bees that, in many parts of the 

 country, the bird is known by the name Bee-Martin. 



All day and all night during the warm months of the year, many thousands 

 of insects of various kinds are flying about through the air. We do not notice 

 them, in fact we seldom see them while thus engaged; but the Kingbird has a 

 much sharper eye than man, and it has been proved it can see a hundred feet 

 away an insect that we would have difiiculty in seeing at a distance of fifteen 

 or twenty feet. After a heavy rainstorm, very few insects are in the air, — the 

 wind and rain having killed many of them. So the hungry Kingbird, from its 

 post, looks around in vain for something to eat. At such times, you will find 

 it on the ground, its sharp eyes having discovered flies and small beetles where 

 they have fallen before the force of the wind and rain. When winter comes, and 

 no insects are to be foimd, the Kingbird flies away to Central or South America. 



