THE BKE- EATERS. 





Jtf 



f^- 



-«s^. 





MEKOrS KUBIOUS. 



The Bcc-eatci's,* the Last Family of the F'mirostral tribe, are found in large mimbers 

 in the southern and eastern provinces of Europe and the northern districts of Africa, 

 where they may be seen skimming along over the fields in pursuit of bees, butterflies, 

 and grasshoppers. These birds build their nests in clay and sand banks, preferring the 

 borders of rivers, where they sometimes associate together in such numbers that the 

 ground appears Hke a honeycomb. In Egypt this bird is kno'mi by the characteristic 

 designation of the bee's-enem}^ In that country it is eaten for food. 



The fondness of the Mcropidce for bees, and the consequent injury to apiaries from their 

 presence, were alike pointed out in the Georgics of Virgil : 



" Place the ricli hives where, deck'd Tivith painted mail, 



Nor lizards lurk, nor birds can yet assail, 



The awift bee-eater, and among- the rest 



The swallow, Procne, with her blood-stained breast ; 



Devourers fell, with cruel biU they seize, 



While flitting- past, the houcy-searching bees ; 



Then to their greedy nestlings bear u-way, 



As a sweet morsel, the expected prey." 

 There is some analogy between the bee-eaters and the swallows ; so much so, indeed, 

 that in the neighbourhood of the Cape, where they most abound, the Dutch call them 

 mountain swallows. They are not, however, I'estricted to Africa, where they are said to 

 guide the Hottentots to the wild honey in the woods, but are found also in Europe and 

 Asia. They are very plentiful in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar, where they make their 

 nests in holes in sand banks. Tliese holes penetrate the bank about three feet, and then 

 take a rectangular dii-ection for about three feet more, where a large cavity is formed for 

 the nests, in which are deposited six or seven eggs rather less than those of the black, 

 bird. They are also exceedingly numerous on the rivers Don, Volga, and Yaik, m 

 southern Russia, as well as in all the adjacent range of Tartary, in Palestine, and Arabia. 

 The forehead of birds of this species is a yellowish white, merging into blueish-green ; 

 the back of the head and iqDper part of the back ls a rich chestnut, passing off into 

 brownish amber ; the ear-coverts are black ; the wings greenish with an olive tiuge, and 

 a large band of brown across the middle ; the quill-feathers incline to blue, and end in 

 black ; the throat is bright yellow, boimded by a black line ; and the Avhole length of the 

 imder surface blue, with reflections of green. 



* Merops Apiaster. 



