288 
SUMMER. 
ARB ALL THE BIRDS G . _LTY 1 
But for some of the birds accused of preying upon 
bees, I would say a word. 
KING-BIRD ONE WORD IN HIS FAVOR. 
The king-bird stands at the head of the list of 
depredators! With a fair trial he will be found guilty, 
though not so heinously criminal as many suppose. I 
think we shall find him guilty of taking only the drones. 
In the afternoon of a fair day he may be seen perched 
upon some dry branch of a shrub or tree near the 
apiary, watching for his victims, occasionally darting 
to seize them. I have shot him down and examined 
his crop, after seeing him devour a goodly number ; 
but in every instance the bees were so crushed to 
pieces, that it was impossible to distinguish workers 
from drones. We are told of great numbers of work- 
ers being counted. It may be so, or it may be thus 
represented by a spice of prejudice. I have found 
the brutal gratification of taking life so strong with 
some, that a natural antipathy is allowed to take the 
place of justice, and a proper defence is not allowed 
in such cases where the suffering party has not the 
power to enforce it. If he was satisfied with workers 
as well as droneafwhy does he not visit the apiary- 
long before noon, and fill his crop with them? But 
instead, he waits till afternoon for the drones; and if 
nope are flying, he watches quietly till one appears, 
although workers may be out by hundreds continu- 
ally. If the question is asked, how they tell the dif- 
ference in the two kinds of bees, I might suggest that 
