6 BIRDS 



of nature's housekeeping entrusted to them. The labor 

 is so adjusted as to give to each class of birds duties as dis- 

 tinct as a cook's from a chambermaid's. One class of tire- 

 less workers is bidden to sweep the air and keep down the 

 very small gauzy-winged pests such as mosquitoes, gnats, 

 and midges. Swallows dart and skim above shallow 

 water, fields, and marshes; puxple martins circle about 

 our gardens; swifts arovmd the roofs of our houses, night- 

 hawks and whippoorwills through the open country, all 

 plying the air for hours at a time. Some, which fly with 

 their mouths open, need not ppuse a moment for refresh- 

 ments. 



On distended upper branches, preferably dead ones, on 

 fence rails, posts, roofs, gables, and other points of vantage 

 where no foliage can impede their aerial sallies, sit king- 

 birds, pewees, phoebes, and kindred dusky, inconspicu- 

 ous flycatchers, ready to launch off into the air the second 

 an insect heaves in sight, snap it up with the click of a sat- 

 isfied beak, then return to their favorite look-out and pa- 

 tiently wait for another. This class of birds keeps down 

 the larger flying insects. For generations the kingbird 

 has been condemned as a destroyer of bees. Rigid inves- 

 tigation proves that he eats very few indeed, and those 

 mostly drones. On the contrary, he destroys immense 

 numbers of robber-flies or bee-killers, one of the worst 

 enemies the bee farmer has. The mere fact that the king- 

 bird has been seen so commonly around apiaries was 

 counted suflBcient circumstantial evidence to condemn 

 him in this land of liberty. But after a fair trial it was 

 found that ninety per cent, of his food consists of insects 

 chiefly injurious : robber-flies^ horse-flies, rose chafers, clover 

 weevils, grasshoppers, and orchard beetles among others. 



