Toad and King Bird. 433 



THE KING BIRD— TYR ANNUS CAROLINENSIS. 



This bird, often called the bee-martin, is one of the fly- 

 catchers, a very valuable family of birds, as they are wholly 

 insectivofoUs, 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 

 frotm tlieir 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, 



