Toad and King Bird. 433 
THE KING BIRD—TYRANNUS CAROLINENSIS. 
This bird, often called the bee-martin, is one of the fly- 
catchers, a very valuable family of birds, as they are wholly 
insectivorous, and do immense good by destroying our 
insect pests. The king bird is the only one of them in the 
United States that deserves censure, Another, the chim- 
ney swallow of Europe, has the same evil habit. Our 
chimney swallow has no evil ways. I am sure, from per- 
sonal observation, that these birds capture and eat the 
workers, as well as drones, as I have taken worker bees 
from their stomachs; and I dare say, they would pay no 
more respect to the finest Italian queen. They perch on 
a tree or post and dart with the speed of an arrow as their 
poor victim comes heavily laden towards the hives, 
Yet, in view of the good that these birds do, unless they 
are far more numerous and troublesome than I have ever 
observed them to be, I should certainly be slow to recom- 
mend the death warrant. 
TOADS. 
The same may be said of the toads, which may often be 
seen sitting demurely at the entrance of the hives, and 
lapping up the full-laden bees with the lightning-like 
movement of their tongues, in a manner which can but be 
regarded with interest, even by him who suffers loss. Mr. 
Moon, the well known apiarist, made this an objection to 
low hives; yet, the advantage of such hives far more than 
compensates, and with a bottom board, such as described 
in the chapter on hives, we shall find that the toads do 
very little damage. In case of toads, the bees sting their 
throats, as I have taken, on several occasions, the stings 
from the throats of the toads, after seeing the latter cap- 
ture the bees. As the toads make no fuss, it seems proba- 
ble that their throats are callous against the stings. I do 
not know whether king-birds are stung or not. I shall 
find out at the next opportunity. 
MICE. 
These little pests are a consummate nuisance about the 
apiary. They enter the hives in winter, mutilate the comb, 
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