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NOTES FROM YORKSHIRE. 

 By E. P. Butterfield. 



Quite recently Mr. J. W. Carter, F.E.S., of Bradford, sent 

 me a few dead bees {Bombus sp.) which he had picked up beneath 

 the blossoms of some lime-trees in Patterdale, in the Lake 

 District, all of which had neat holes in the thorax and abdomen, 

 from which the contents had been abstracted. About a year 

 ago a gamekeeper told me he had witnessed a similar occurrence 

 under an avenue of lime-trees in this district ; all the bees which 

 he examined had apparently met with their death in a similar 

 manner to the specimens sent by Mr. Carter. 



The late Mr. James Varley, of Huddersfield, recorded a similar 

 phenomenon in the ' Naturalist,' vol. iii. p. 40. He mentions 

 having found hundreds of dead bees under lime-trees on his 

 way to Woodsome. These were sent to the late Mr. Frederick 

 Smith, of the British Museum, and he suggested the probability 

 of their having met with their death by the Red-backed Shrike, 

 which seems to have a partiality for bees. 



The Red-backed Shrike is what might be considered practi- 

 cally absent from this district, and so cannot be responsible for 

 the cause of the deaths mentioned by the gamekeeper referred to 

 above. The more probable culprit, I think, will turn out to be 

 one of the Tit family, probably either the Blue or Great Tit, 

 both of which are found in abundance in this district. 



There should be no great difficulty in ascertaining the cause 

 of such havoc among bees ; that it is due to some species of bird 

 or birds I have little doubt, although it has been suggested that 

 dead bees found under lime-blossoms might have been poisoned, 

 and the perforation in their bodies been due to ants, &c* 



A friend of mine near Keighley has been wanting me now for 

 some time to pay a visit to a Starling roost near his residence. 



* Six specimens of Bombus lucorum from Gloucestershire were sent by 

 Dr. Giinther to the British Museum for identification. They had been 

 taking honey from Tilia petiolaria, the flowers of which attract them, and, 

 having apparently become stupefied, they had been attacked by wasps, 

 which had made holes in the thorax. — Ed. 



Zool. 4th fier. vol. XIV., September, 1910. 2 D 



