BEE-BIRDS, birds that devour bees, espe cially the honeybee. Not many birds have this habit, the bees being protected against most birds by their stings. A few fly-catching birds, however, have learned how to avoid being stung, and catch not only bees but wasps, take them to a perch and beat them, so as to kill them, and probably get rid of the sting before swallowing them. Notable among these are the European and African bee-eaters (q.v.). The American kingbirds (q.v.) also catch bees, but not as frequently as is popularly supposed, and are known in the Southern States as Thee martins.° a small, richly plumaged and graceful bird of southern Europe and northern Africa, whose food consists almost wholly of bees and wasps, and which haunts the neighborhood of the hives of honeybees and devours these useful insects in great numbers. The bee-eaters are related to the lcingfishers, and like them dig deep nesting-holes in earthen banks, and lay pure white eggs.
persons who see the little boxes of honey in the market realize the importance and extent of the bee-keeping industry of this country. Careful estimates, based on United States statis tics, and the output of large factories for the manufacture of bee-hives and honey-boxes, show that at least 125,000,000 pounds of honey is annually produced, malcing an aggregate of 5,000 car loads, or a train 35 miles long. The aggregate value of this, at a conservative figure, is $10, 000,000. When it is remembered that Califor nia alone, in a good year, can produce 500 carloads of honey, and that a good many of the other States produce from 50 to 100 carloads, one can form some idea of the commercial possibilities wrapped up in so small an insect as the bee.
The honey resources of the great West are very largely dependent on alfalfa and mountain sage. In the North-Central and Eastern States, clover and basswood, in the South-Central, tupelo, palmetto, eat claw, mesquite and guajilla.
There are several races of bees —Apis dorsata, or the giant bee of India and the Philippines; A. Indica, of India; A. fiorea, and A. mellifica. From a commercial standpoint, the last mentioned is by all odds the most im portant. It comprises the black or German bees of this country; the Italians, from the southern part of Italy; the Syrians, of Pales tine; the Cyprians, from the island of Cyprus; the Carniolans, from Austria, and the Tuni sians, from north Africa. But the most import
ant of all these varieties is the Italian. They are the most industrious and the gentlest. They. together with the black or German bees and their crosses, incorrectly termed °hybrids,» are used most extensively in the United States— in fact, throughout almost all the civilized world.
Three Kinds of Hive Bees.— There are three kinds of bees in the hive; namely, the workers, or undeveloped fe males; the queen, a fully de veloped female; and the drone, or the male bee. The queen lays all the eggs of the hive, and may lay as many as 3,000 a day. Notwithstanding there may be from 10,000 to 100,000 bees in a single colony, the queen will be the mother of the whole colony. The drones are incapable of gath ering honey, and serve only one purpose — that of fertilizing or fecundating the young queens, which act takes place in the air. The workers gather all the honey and pollen, fill all the combs and rear the young or baby bees.. As soon as the mating season is over, the drones are shoved out of the hives and allowed to starve.
How to Handle There is a general impression to the effect that the ordinary honeybees are vicious, even in a towering rage, ready to attack any one who comes near their hives. This is a great mistake. Under certain conditions, when their habits are known, they can be handled almost like kittens; will permit one to tear their hives apart, rob them of their months and months of hard earnings— the honey and the wax — without even offering to sting. But an inexperienced or awkward per son may infuriate them to fearful vengeance. To bring them into a state of subjection it is only necessary to blow smoke into the entrance and over the combs, when, if the motions about the hive are careful and deliberate, they will offer no attack. Smoke, when intelligently used, disarms opposition, puts the bees in a quiet state and enables their owner to do with them, within reasonable limits, whatsoever he will.