148 BIRDS OP PENNSYLVANIA. 



stroying. as Dr. Cones remarks, a thousand noxious insects for every 

 bee it eats, many farmers and others who keep honey-bees, are ever 

 ready to slay every Kingbird which visits their premises. Although 

 it is believed by some that these birds take only drone bees, such is 

 not the case, as I have found both drone and working-bees in their 

 stomachs; Mr. Gentry also in speaking of the bee-eating habit states 

 that the Kingbird is no respecter of kinds. Nuttall writing of this 

 bird says : As insects approach him, or as he darts after them, the 

 snapping of his bills is heard, like the shutting of a watch-case, and is 

 the certain grave of his prey. Beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and 

 winged insects of all descriptions form his principal summer food ; at 

 times canker worms from the elm are also collected. Towards autumn, 

 as various kinds of berries ripen, these constitute a very considerable 

 and favorite part of his subsistence ; but with the exception of currants 

 (of which he only eats perhaps when confined), he refuses all exotic 

 productions, contenting himself with blackberries, whortleberries, those 

 of the sassafras, elder and poke. The same writer further says : "Raisins, 

 foreign currants, grapes, cherries, peaches, pears and apples were 

 never even tasted, when offered to a bird of this kind, which I had 

 many months as my pensioner ; of the last when roasted, sometimes, 

 however, a few mouthfuls were relished, in the absence of other 

 more agreeable diet. Berries he always swallowed whole, grasshop- 

 pers, if too large, were pounded and broken on the floor, as he held 

 them in his bill. To manage the larger beetles was not so easy ; these 

 he struck repeatedly against the ground and then turned them from 

 side to side, by throwing them dexterously into the air, and the insect 

 was uniformly caught reversed as it descended, with the agility of a 

 practiced cup-and-ball player. At length the pieces of the beetle 

 were swallowed, and he remained still to digest his morsel, tasting it 

 distinctly soon after it entered the stomach, as became obvious by the 

 ruminating motion of his mandibles. When the soluble portion was 

 taken up, large pellets of the indigestible legs, wings and shells, as 

 likewise the skins and seeds of berries, were, in half an hour or less, 

 brought up and ejected from the mouth in the manner of Hawks and 

 Owls. When other food failed, he appeared very well satisfied with 

 fresh minced meat, and drank water frequently, even during the 

 severe frosts of January. * * * Some, very cold evenings he had 

 the sagacity to retire under the shelter of a depending bed-quilt." 

 The few examinations which I have made are given in the following 

 table : 



