﻿300 Canadian Record of Science. 



professional bee keepers and others. Many observers 

 have seen the bird at work near hives, and there is 

 no reason to doubt the honesty of their testimony. One 

 bee raiser in Iowa, suspecting the kingbirds of feeding 

 upon his bees, shot a number near his hives, but when the 

 birds' stomachs were examined by an expert entomologist 

 not a trace of honeybees could be found. 



The Biological Survey has made an examination of 281 

 stomachs collected in various parts of the country, but 

 found only 14 containing remains of honeybees. In these 

 14 stomachs ^ there were in all 50 honeybees, of which 40 

 were drones, 4 were certainly workers, and the remaining 

 6 were too badly broken to be identified as to sex. 



The insects that constitute the great bulk of the 

 food of this bird are noxious species, largely beetles — May 

 beetles, click beetles (the larvae of which are known 

 as wire worms), weevils, which prey upon fruit and grain, 

 and a host of others. Wasps, wild bees, and ants are 

 conspicuous elements of the food, far outnumbering the 

 hive bees. During summer many grasshoppers and 

 crickets, as well as leaf hoppers and other bugs, are also 

 eaten. Among the flies were a number of robber flies — 

 insects which prey largely upon other insects, especially 

 honeybees, and which have been known to commit in this 

 way extensive depredations. It is thus evident that the 

 kingbird by destroying these flies actually does good work 

 for the apiarist. Nineteen robber flies were found in the 

 stomachs examined; these may be considered more than 

 an equivalent for the four worker honeybees already 

 mentioned. A few caterpillars are eaten, mostly belonging 

 to the group commonly known as cutworms, all the 

 species of which are harmful. About 10 per cent, of the 

 food consists of small native fruits, comprising some 

 twenty common species of the roadsides and thickets, 

 such as dogwood berries, elder berries, and wild grapes. 

 The bird has not been reported as eating cultivated fruit 



