1G6 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



breed, especially in Algeria and Morocco. It passes through 

 Afghanistan, North-west India, and Sind on migration, and win- 

 ters in South Africa. 



It nests in holes burrowed in the earth or in banks. 



The eggs are from five to eight or nine in number, nearly 

 round, and pure glossy white, the shell being as highly polished 

 as that of a Kingfisher's or Woodpecker's egg. They vary in 

 length from 105 to 0'95 inch, and in breadth from 093 to 0'8 

 inch. 



THE BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATEE. 



{Merops pli ilippinus.) 



An example of the Blue-tailed Bee-eater, said to have been shot 

 by Mr. Thomas Iiann of Byer's Green, near the Snook, Seaton 

 Carew, in Durham, in August, 1862, is in the collection of the 

 Rev. T. M. Hicks. * This species is found throughout India and 

 the Malay Peninsula, South China, and Formosa, extending to 

 many of the islands of the Malay Archipelago, Sumatra, Java, 

 Timor, Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippines. The improbability 

 of a species inhabiting a district so remote and so far to the south 

 ever visiting the British Islands is so great that it is difficult to 

 avoid coining to the conclusion, either that the individual in ques- 

 tion had escaped from an aviary, or that the skin of an Indian 

 bird was substituted for that of a Common Bee-eater by the bird- 

 stuff er through whose hands it passed. 



FAMILY CORACIIVJE, 



OR ROLLERS. 



Of the three species here enumerated, one, a typical African 

 species, and the second, a typical Indian species, are supposed to 

 have visited England once. The Common Boiler has occurred 

 more than a hundred times. 



* Hancock, " Birds of Northumberland and Durham, p. 28. 



