Evening star., 1948-10-18
This and That
BIZ Charles T.. Trdce,peu

A correspondent wants to know If there Is
such bird as the bee martin.
There Is. and q very good bird it is, too.
although the name is very poor, since it is
more or less untrue.
The kingbird, sometimes called bee martin
eats mostly insects, very few bees
Experts have studied their stomach content
and found that IS per cent of their food
consists Of flies, grasshcppers, crickets and
cutworms.
only "a had bees in them. The number Of
bees found was 81, Of which 81 were useless
drones.
In fact, bee martins eat robber flies, which
do catch and eat honey bees.
- AH
1t may be seen. then, that the kingbird is
not q foe Of our bees.
This is just another striking example Of the
way common names of birds are in error.
Some country boy, once upon q time, saw
kingbird swallow a bee, or happened to cut
open . stomach and found one.
Thereafter, kingbirds ate honey bees, and
no one could tell that boy, or his friends,
that they didn't.
So down the ages the story went, even to
this day.
Kingbird Is q better name, based on its
scientific name, Tyrannus Tyrannus
This kingbird, field martin, bee martin, bee
bird, tyrant flycatcher, call 1t what one will,
Is good-looking fellow.
He Is about inches long, with srfine round
head. neat bill, splendid tail
He Is not large, but holds himself in q
hawk-like manner, upright and steady.
His upper parts are gray and black, his
underparts white. The tail Is square, or
slightly rounded.
The crown and sides Of head are black,
with concealed patch Of orange. The feathers
are tipped with white.
Tail Is black, tipped with white.
What distinguishes this bird Is the way he
attacks hawks and crows.
Some other birds also attack hawks, but none
OF them does 1t with the zest and determination
OF the kingbird, hence its name.
1t Is q splendid sight, to see this little fellow
sail down after hawk, pecking 1t repeatedly.
There even have been instances Of the king
bird alighting on the hawks back and riding
along on it.
It is generally felt by any one who sees this
sight that the name of "tyrant," given him by
the scientists, is about as erroneous as the
name bee martin, given by country folk
When one sees him fash down on n hawk
one looks upon him as o king rather than q
tyrant
As for the few bees he may take, these are
forgiven forever.
The fact that he attacks only birds much
larger than he, and never bothers smaller ones,
takes him completely out Of the tyrant class.
At least as most of us have come to look upon
a real tyrant one who bullies those who can
not light back.
Their fly-catching activities are interesting
to watch. The birds perch on fence posts, or
tree limbs, from which they dash after an
insect, and to which they return
This is q real fiycatcher hence tyrant fly
catcher is Q good name.
Kingbird, however, may be regarded as
better. ..
The. bird likes to nest in orchards or In
trees near streams
The nest is large. made of small branches,
weed stalks, grass and roots, wool and down,
lined with feathers and wool, and hairs, when
obtainable
The eggs number three or four white or
pale pink, spotted with chestnut.
Kingbirds are cousins of the crested ny
catcher which has the habit of including a
cast of snake skin in its nest. One school Of
thought says the birds do this to scare
of hawks another school says: Nonsense to
thstI"
There also is a gray kingbird farther South,
and the Arkansas kingbird. The lattsr 10
called bee martin, and was accused In Call
fornia of eating honeybees. It was claimed
that they loitered near hives and ate only bees
laden with honey. This. too, was proved to be
a epvnr