PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 207 



once lost a stock by mice, which made a nest and pro- 

 duced young amongst the combs*. The titmouse, ac- 

 cording to the same author, will make a noise at the 

 door of the hive, and when a bee comes out to see what 

 is the matter, will seize and devour it. He has known 

 them eat a dozen at a time. The swallows will assemble 

 round the hives and devour them like grains of corn *". 

 I need only mention spiders, in whose webs they some- 

 times meet with their end, and earwigs and ants, which 

 creep into the hive and steal the honey '. 



Upon this subject of the enemies of bees, I cannot 

 persuade myself to omit the account Mr. White has 

 given of an idiot-boy, who from a child showed a strong 

 propensity to bees. They were his food, his amusement, 

 his sole object. In the winter he dozed away his time 

 in his father's house, by the fire-side, in a torpid state, 

 seldom leaving the chimney-corner : but in summer he 

 was all alert and in quest of his game. Hive-bees, hum- 

 ble-bees, and wasps were his prey wherever he found 

 them. He had no apprehension from their stings, but 

 would seize them with naked hands, and at once disarm 

 them of their weapons, and suck their bodies for the 

 sake of their honey-bags. Sometimes he would fill his 

 bosom between his shirt and skin with these animals ; 

 and sometimes he endeavoured to confine them in bot- 

 tles. He was very injurious to men that kept bees ; for 

 he would glide into their bee-gardens, and sitting down 

 before the stools, would rap with his fingers, and so take 

 the bees as they came out. He has even been known 

 to overturn the hives for the sake of the honey, of which 

 he was passionately fond. Where metheglin was mak- 



* 170. " Reaum. v. 710 • Thorley, 171. 



