Post #2563432

Here's an excerpt from Swedish ornitologist Reinhold Winter, 1906, translated to the best of my ability "[The Great Tit] also has a trait which he gains no honor from - To catch bees in the cold of winter. He sits himself on the beehive, knocks powerfully with his beak on the same and thusly brings the attention of the door guards, who always keep themselves awake inside the warm arch of the giant hive, to himself. With Japanese bravery and without regard for death and the obvious risk of freezing to death, the first of the order makes his way outside to learn [what is happening], but he barely makes it into eyesight of the bandit outside before he is arrested and eaten whole. Then the [regrettable, evil] thief knocks again and the scene repeats, until the point where the ne'er-do-wells work has given him enough profit to satisfy the demands of the moment. It is obvious that if this continues for a month or two, the bee-peoples are decimated"