252 
THE HIVE AND HONEY-BICE. 
perpetuity; to be entitled to a never-fading wreath oi 
budding honey flowers, from sweetly breathing fields, all 
murmuring with bees ; to be privileged to use, during his 
natural life, ‘night tapers from their waxen thighs,’ (best 
wax candles, two to the pound !); to have an annual 
offering, from every bee-master, of ten pounds each of 
very best virgin honey; and to a body guard, for protec¬ 
tion against all foes, of thrice ten thousand workers, all 
armed and equipped as Nature’s law directs. Who shall 
have these high honors ?” 
It seems almost incredible that such puny animals as 
mice should venture to invade a hive of bees; and yet 
they often slip in when cold compels the bees to retreat 
from the entrance. Having once gained admission, they 
build a warm nest in their comfortable abode, eat up the 
honey and such bees as are too much chilled to offer re¬ 
sistance, and fill the premises with such a stench, that the 
bees, on the arrival of warm weather, often abandon 
their polluted home. On the approach of cold weather, 
the entrances of the hives should be so contracted that a 
mouse cannot get in.* 
That various kinds of birds are fond of bees, every 
Apiarian knows to his cost. The King-bird ( Tyrannus 
mtisicapa), which devours them by scores, is said—when 
he can have a choice—to eat only the drones; but as he 
catches bees on the blossoms—which arc never frequented 
by these fat and lazy gentlemen — the industrious workers 
must often fall a prey to his fatal snap. There is good 
reason to suspect that this gourmand can distinguish 
between an empty bee in search of food, and one which, 
returning laden to its fragrant home, is in excellent condi¬ 
tion to glide — already sweetened—down his voracious maw. 
* If, iifl the weather grows cold, the bees aro allowed to use only the upper 
entrance (p. 250), It will bo almost impossible for mice to effect a lodgment 
