E 
EGGS. —See Brood and Brood-rearing. 
ELEMENTARY BEEKEEPING.— See 
A B C or Beekeeping. 
EMBRYOLOGY OF BEES.— See De¬ 
velopment of Bees. 
ENEMIES OF BEES.— Kingbirds and 
bee martins, and a few other insectivorous 
birds prey on bees. The author once saw 
a single kingbird capture six or eight bees 
in as many trips, on the wing. It would 
alight on the peak of the barn near the 
apiary, and then make a dive thru the air, 
grab one bee on the wing, return to its 
perch to dispose of its morsel, and then 
catch another. 
There have been a number of conflicting 
reports as to whether kingbirds do or do 
not swallow their victims. Some have as¬ 
serted that they do, and afterward expelled 
the ball of bees. At one experiment station 
a number of kingbirds were shot, and the 
conclusion, after examining their crops, was 
that they did not swallow bees. From obser¬ 
vations that have been made since, it ap¬ 
pears that the kingbird does not generally 
swallow worker bees. It grabs the bees, flies 
away, and after it alights on some perch 
with its victim in its beak, bites away until 
it absorbs the honey or juices, when it drops 
the carcass, and flies away for another, 
which it treats in the same way. Observers 
have reported seeing these carcasses of bees 
below the birds’ favorite perches. 
There are other birds that do swallow 
bees. Cases are on record where they throw 
up the dead carcasses of the bees after they 
have absorbed the honey. 
The loss of a few bees which the birds 
might kill amounts to nothing in a yard 
run for honey; but in large queen-rearing 
yards, if the birds are allowed to go un¬ 
molested there is quite likely to be a loss 
of young queens. The birds select the 
largest and noisiest-flying bees, and these, 
of course, will be queens and drones. If 
such be the case, the owner of a queen¬ 
rearing yard would do well to use his shot¬ 
gun until everything in the way of bee¬ 
killing birds is destroyed. 
MICE. 
Mice do harm only when they get into 
the hives, and this part of the subject will 
be sufficiently noticed under the head of 
Entrances. Mice sometimes make sad 
havoc among surplus combs, when stored 
away with small patches of honey in them. 
The combs will be completely riddled dur¬ 
ing the winter time, if they are left where 
mice can get at them. On this account the 
honey-house should be mouse-proof; and 
for fear that a stray one may by accident 
get in, it is well to keep a trap ready, bait¬ 
ed with toasted cheese. If one does not 
have a tight room, he should make a tight 
box, large enough to hold all the surplus 
combs which have honey in them. See En¬ 
trances. 
parasites. 
There is a parasite known as the Braula 
coeca, or Italian bee louse, and it is seldom 
seen except on bees just imported from 
Italy. This does little or no damage; but 
there is a parasite that is very destructive 
to bees. See Diseases op Bees, subhead 
isle of wight disease. 
SKUNKS. 
Skunks are justly coming to be regarded 
as one of the most serious enemies of the 
beekeeper; and, owing to the legal protec¬ 
tion given them in most States, together 
with their ability to multiply very rapidly, 
they are constantly becoming more numer¬ 
ous. Not only do they eat great numbers 
of bees, but by scratching at the front of 
the hives they keep the bees in an excited 
condition which is noticeable for several 
hours after the nightly raid of the skunk 
