INSTINCTS OF BEES. 337 



WHITE, in his History of Selborne. The collected 

 powers of reason, when concentred in a single 

 focus, is no less finely instanced in the immortal 

 NEWTON." 



To those readers who have not seen Mr. White's 

 account of the bee-eater, the following abstract of 

 it may prove acceptable. 



The boy was a resident in Selborne, about the 

 year 1750. He took great notice of bees from his 

 childhood, and at length used to eat them. In 

 summer, his few faculties were devoted to the 

 pursuit of them, through fields and gardens. 

 During winter, his father's chimney corner was 

 his favourite haunt, where he dozed away his time, 

 in an almost torpid state. Practice made him so 

 expert, that he could seize honey-bees, humble- 

 bees or wasps, with his naked hands, disarm them 

 of their stings, and suck their honey-bags, with 

 perfect impunity. Sometimes he would store the 

 bees in bottles, and even in his shirt bosom. He> 

 was the terror of the surrounding bee-keepers 

 whose gardens he would enter by stealth, and 

 rapping on the outsides of their hives, catch the 

 bees as they came out to see what was the mat- 

 ter. If in this way he could not obtain a sufficient 

 number to supply his wants, so passionately fond 

 was he of honey, that he would sometimes over- 

 turn the hives to get at it. He was accustomed to 

 hover about the tubs of the mead-makers, to beg 



