12 
does not, however, vonfine itself to this method of hunting, but picks 
up some insects from trees and weeds, and even descends to the ground 
in search of myriapods or thousand legs. The chief complaint against 
the kingbird is that it preys largely. upon honeybees; and this charge 
has been made both by 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 
Towa, 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 col- 
lected in various parts of the country, but found only 14 containing 
remains of honeybees. In these 14 stomachs there were in all 50 honey- 
bees, 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 larve 
of which are known as wire worms), weevils, which prey upon fruit and 
grain, and ahost of others. Wasps, wild bees, and ants are conspicuous 
elements of the food, far outuumbering 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 equiva- 
lent for the four worker honeybees already mentioned. A few caterpil- 
lars 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 to an injurious extent, and it is very doubtful if 
this is ever the case, for cherries and blackberries are the only ones that 
might have come from cultivated places, and they were found in but 
few stomachs. 
Three points seem to be clearly established in regard to the food of 
the kingbird—(1) that about 90 per cent consists of insects, mostly 
injurious species; (2) that the alleged habit of preying upon honeybees 
is much less prevalent than has been supposed, and probably does not 
result in any great damage; and (3) that the vegetable food consists 
almost entirely of wild fruits which have no economic value. These 
facts, taken in connection with its well-known enmity for hawks and 
crows, entitle the kingbird to a place among the most desirable birds 
of the orchard or garden. 
