142 



EIGHTH ANNUALi REPORT OF THE 



The food goes direct from the mouth 

 to the gizzard. 



Mr. Liogsdon: I don't care anything 

 about the particular designation of the 

 place where we find the drones in a 

 kingbird, whether it is in the crop or 

 gizzard, or in a portion of the wind- 

 pipe. It makes no difference. The 

 point is that I don't wish to see the 

 kingbirds destroyed. I have watched 

 them carefully. The kingbirds never 

 come to my apiary until the drone sea- 

 son, and never until from noon until 

 perhaps three o'clock, which we know 

 is when the drones are flying. Again, 

 as I told you before, I have dissected 

 them, and have found the drones in- 

 ternally. I don't know that it is nec- 

 essary for me to be a physiologist or 

 an anatomist; if I can find a drone on 

 the inside of a kingbird, that ought to 

 be sufficient to anyone, either pro or 

 con. 1 have killed them, but, like my 

 friend, I will never kill another one. 

 They are a brave little bird, and I 

 don't know of any other animal in na- 

 ture that can teach us more the prin- 

 ciples of bravery and industry and 

 self- protection than a kingbird, and 

 they are here and do us good, the same 

 as all birds. I have never lost a queen 

 through the influence of a kingbird, so 

 far as I know — a virgin queen, now, 

 mark you — if it was a fertile queen 

 flying away with a swarm, sometimes 

 they will; but for a virgin queen, just 

 dismiss that from your minds. I will 

 guarantee the kingbirds don't eat them. 



Mr. Barkemeier: Is the kingbird the 

 same as the bee martin? My bees 

 swarm about ten o'clock. The king- 

 bird and bee martin will come and 

 peck at the bee-house in the morning, 

 and my brother shot, maybe, ten, and 

 they got off with ten or twelve bees. 



Mr. Logsdon: Was it a first or sec- 

 ond swarm? 



Mr. Barkemeier: The first swarm 

 in the morning, ten o'clock. 



Mr. Logsdon: Everyone who has 

 bees can see them fiying in the after- 

 noon by four or five o'clock — twelve 

 o'clock you can see them. They eat 

 only drones. 



Mr. Watts: We have a distinction 

 In our neighborhood between the king- 

 bird and the bee-martin. They are a 

 different sized bird. The kingbird is 

 much larger than the bee-martin. I 

 think the bee-martin is a more dan- 

 gerous bee- catcher than the kingbird. 

 What we call \he kingbird is white 

 under the wings when it Is flying, 



but the other bird is of a dark brown 

 color. There may be some other dis- 

 tinction between the two kinds of 

 birds. 



Mr. Wilcox: We are discussing 

 this for t^e purpose of getting infor- 

 mation. I don't want to carry my 

 point if it is wrong. I will be glad if I 

 am wrong if you will furnish reason- 

 able evidence of It. But as to whether 

 kingbirds eat worker bees or not — 

 several times I have seen them early 

 in May, before there was a drone 

 passed from the apiary — come into the 

 yard and catch bees when it was so 

 cold that only once in awhile a bee 

 came out of the hive. I have seen 

 them come close to the hive and pick 

 up bees before they fairly got from 

 the hive. I am confident they were get- 

 ting worker bees, although I didn't 

 catch them to see. I have often ex- 

 amined the gizzard and found drones 

 and lizards and other insects in there. 

 But you must catch them pretty quick- 

 ly after they have swallowed it or you 

 cannot tell what Is in them. 



Mr. Horstmann: I don't believe I 

 ever killed a kingbird, but I have 

 friends who have killed them because 

 they thought they killed the queens. 

 Unless he can tell us that the jiiing- 

 bird is of great' value to us, I would 

 advise Miss Candler to buy a good 

 shotgun before she leaves the city 

 and "la,y for" the kingbirds before she 

 loses the queens next year. Are the 

 kingbirds of any use to us? If they 

 are, I would not want to kill them, but 

 if they cannot show any value, I would 

 just as soon kill them as not. 



Mr. Wilcox: They catch the millers 

 and bee-moths. 



Mr. Horstmann: My bees never have 

 any moths. 



Number of Colonies to Keep. 



"How^ many colonies can a person 

 keep producing comb honey if work- 

 ing on a farm? 



President York: It would depend a 

 little on the size of the farm. 



Mr. Wilcox: I can answer that. I 

 have tried it for twenty or thirty years 

 and I have kept from three to four 

 hundred colonies. 



President York: How large a farm? 



Mr. Wilcox: -From 120 to 240 acres, 

 but I had my whole family helping and 

 some hired help. 



