920 



difficulties. With the responsibilities of a 

 large family to meet he was forced to give 

 almost his whole time to teaching mathe- 

 matics, reserving only odd moments for 

 entomology. Notwithstanding his hardships, 

 he early became an authority in his chosen 

 work, and formed friendships with such 

 men as Charles Darwin and Victor Hugo. 

 It was Hugo who called him " the insects' 

 Homer " on account of his literary ability. 

 His greatest work, " Souvenirs Entomo- 

 logiques," contains many valuable observa- 

 tions on the ways of honeybees, and has 

 placed him among the authorities in api- 

 culture. In an editorial on Henri Fabre, 

 The Outlook says that it was through con- 

 versation with him that Maurice Maeterlinck 

 was inspired to write " The Life of the 

 Bee." Of him Maeterlinck himself wrote, 

 " He is one of the most profound scholars, 

 purest writers, and finest poets of the cen- 

 tury just passed." 



Bees Blamed Again for the Work of 

 the Birds 



A WOMAN living near one of our out- 

 apiaries telephoned to us about the middle 

 of October, inquiring if there was any way 

 that she could keep the bees away from her 

 grapes. She said that they were simply 

 spoiling the crop. We asked if she hadn't 

 seen birds around the grapes, and she said 

 that she had, but didn't think that they 

 were eating the grapes. We asked her to 

 tell what kinds of birds she had seen, and 

 she said they looked like small sparrows. 

 There are a number of birds that eat grapes, 

 and we believe sparrows have been caught 

 in the act. 



It so hapi^ened, however, that, just before 

 this woman telei3honed to us, a farmer liv- 

 ing near Medina sent in two birds that he 

 shot Avhile in the very act of puncturing his 

 grapes. He did not know what kind of 

 birds they were, and was anxious to have 

 them identified. A local ornithologist ex- 

 amined them, and showed us that they were 

 Cape May warblers. We, therefore, ex- 

 plained to the woman mentioned above that 

 in all probability the birds were Cape May 

 warblers — that they merely punctured the 

 grapes and the bees afterward sucked the 

 skins dry. We told her that bees could not 

 puncture sound fruit, and explained why 

 they could not. She then said she had won- 

 dered why the bees paid no attention to the 

 grapes under the roof of their porch where 

 the birds did not come, but worked only on 

 those outside the roof where she had seen 

 the birds frequently. 



The Cape May warblers are notorious 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



gTape-eaters. Unless they are watched 

 closely, however, they cannot be caught in 

 the act, for they merely pierce the skin, 

 making a very slight puncture, and then go 

 to another grape. The bees, meanwhile, 

 sucking the juices out of the fruit already 

 spoiled, nearly always get the blame. As 

 has been proven many times, bees will pay 

 no attention to sound fruit. If the skin is 

 pierced by even a fine needle, however, the 

 bees will " get busy." 



The warblers, contrary to what might be 

 expected from their name, do not sing 

 much. They have merely a sort of short 

 chirrup. 



The birds at this time of the year were on 

 their way south. They winter even as far 

 south as Central America, and in the spring 

 migrate as far north as Canada. They re- 

 main in the north-central states a week or 

 more in the spring on their way north, and 

 perhaps the same length of time in the fall 

 on their way south. It is on their southern 

 trip that they do the most damage to the 

 grapes, for a whole flock of them sometimes 

 almost takes possession of a vineyard. The 

 only remedy is to use the shotgun and thus 

 kill and frighten them away. 



The following very complete description 

 is from "Birds of Eastern North America," 

 by Frank M. Chapman: 



Dendroica tigrina, Cape May warbler. Adult male, 

 crown black, slightly tipped with greenish ; ear- 

 coverts ruious, bounded behind by a large yellow 

 patch on the side of the neck; back olive-green, 

 l)roadly streaked with black; rump yellow or green- 

 ish yellow; a large white patch on the wing-coverts ; 

 outer tail feathers with a large white patch on their 

 inner webs, near the tip ; under parts yellow, heavily 

 streaked with black; lower belly and under tail- 

 covers whitish. Adult female, upper parts grayish 

 olive-green ; rump yellowish ; a yellow line over the 

 eye; middle wing-covers with narrow white tips; 

 outer tail-feathers with a white patch on their inner 

 webs near the tip ; under parts yellow, streaked with 

 Ijlark; belly and under tail-covers whiter. Imma- 

 ture male resembles the female, but the wing-covers 

 have more white. Immature female is similar to 

 adult female, but with little or no yellow on the 

 under parts. L., 5.00; W., 2.61; T., 1.88; B. from 

 N., 30. 



Range. — Eastern North America ; breeds from 

 Northern New England north to Hudson Bay ; win- 

 ters in the tropics. 



Washington, sometimes very common, usually un- 

 common T. V.,* May 5 to 20; Aug. 25 to Oct. 7. 

 Sing Sing, tolerably common T. V., Aug. 20 to Oct. 

 1. Cambridge, rare T. V., May 15 to 25; Aug. 25 

 to Sept. 15. 



yest, partially pensile, of twigs and grass fastened 

 with spiders' webbing, lined with horsehair on a 

 low branch of a small tree in pasture or open wood- 

 land. Eggs, three to four, dull white or buffy, 

 slightly specked, and wreathed around the larger end 

 with spots of brown and lilac, .70 by .50 (Chamber- 

 lain). 



* Transient visitant. These warblers are verv 

 useful visitors in orchards. A flock of warblers is 

 said to be worth several barrels of spraying emul- 

 sion in getting rid of grubs and insects. — Ed. 



