302 BIRDS GREAT ENEMIES TO BEES. 



into the pedestal, some with the point upwards, and some 

 downwards ; but Feburier says, that the hives ought to be 

 placed at least three feet from the ground to secure them 

 from the field rat, for at the ordinary height at which the 

 hives are placed, the rat can jump upon the platform from 

 the ground. We will not dispute the saltatory powers of 

 the field rat, but we will lay down a plan by which his 

 jumping spirit may be checked for ever : get a large flower 

 pot ; place one stick within and one without, and let the pot 

 rest on a slight piece of twine, in the middle of which is a 

 nut, with the shell half taken off, and through which the 

 twine is passed. The rat will be so eager to partake of the 

 nut, that he will gnaw away the remainder of the shell ; in 

 so doing, he will gnaw the twine in two, and the pot will 

 fall over him. This trap is upon the same principle as that 

 formerly described for killing the field mouse. 



Birds are great enemies to bees, especially the wood- 

 pecker, tomtit, the swallow, and almost all the gallinaceous 

 tribe. In regard to the latter, however, it appears to be more 

 a matter of sport with them, than any fixed habit or epicurean 

 relish that they entertain for the body of the bee; the few, 

 however, that they destroy, cannot have any sensible effect 

 upon a populous hive, but still we do not like to see them 

 about our hives, except towards the close of the day, when 

 they catch the moths, which with the setting of the sun are 

 generally seen hovering about the apiary. In regard to the 

 tomtit, the French apiarians consider it as rather a formid- 

 able enemy ; for Buffon says, that it employs the following 

 stratagem to satisfy its appetite for the bees. The artful biped, 

 knowing the extreme vigilance of the bees, and that they are 

 on the alert at the slightest sound, alight on the hive, and 

 begin scratching with their claws, and tapping with their 

 beaks; on which, the sentinels come out of the hive to 

 ascertain the cause of the annoyance, when one is caught 

 up after the other, until the little cormorant has satisfied its 



