BEES. 119 
Bee-Cuckoo, as it is said, does not differ 
much in appearance from the Common Spar- 
row, except that it is somewhat larger, of a 
lighter colour, and has a yellow spot upon 
each shoulder; the feathers of its tail are 
dashed with white. 
Upon the value, too, of Bee and honey- 
eating animals of all kinds (and there are 
many,) with reference to the general eco- 
nomy of nature, I may remark, the north of 
Africa more especially, and in the parts of 
Asia adjacent, the abundance of honey is not 
without the accompaniment of much human 
suffering from Bees. In the parts recently 
visited by Messrs. Denham and Clapperton, 
it was found that the natives were accus- 
tomed to build their houses, at least, as arti- 
ficially and intricately, by way of fortifica- 
tion against Bees, as the Esquimaux build 
their snow-houses for defence against cold ; 
and the Hebrew Scriptures contain several 
passages, from which it appears, that in Pa- 
lestine, the molestations of Bees were thought 
so terrible as to afford a simile for the situa- 
tion of a man, or of a people the most 
fiercely or the most numerously beset with 
