MEROPID^. 281 



utters, witli hoarse and guttural voice, in startling dis- 

 accordance with its slender aspect, a continual cry of 

 gra ! gra ! gra ! It builds in deep horizontal holes in 

 sandy banks, which it excavates in whole or in part, 

 working vigorously with its feet and bill, and kicking out 

 the dry earth behind it with great perseverance. It lays 

 six or seven eggs, white, lucid, and almost spherical. 

 When the young are partly fledged, but not able to fly, 

 they creep to the mouths of their hole, where they seem 

 to enjoy the happy summer light and genial sunshine; but 

 on the least alarm they l-etreat, tail foremost, into the 

 recesses of their burrow, where they lie concealed. So 

 accustomed do they seem to this peculiar movement, 

 that when taken from the nest and placed in any more 

 exposed position, they endeavo\ir to escape by running 

 backwards ; indeed, for a time, they seem unable to walk 

 in any other direction. The Bee-eaters are exclusively 

 insectivorous, and prey almost entirely upon the hyme- 

 nopterous tribes. Although they often take their food 

 upon the wing, they also gather it from the ground ; and 

 whenever they espy the small hole which leads into the 

 nest of Wasp or Bembex, they place themselves close 

 beside it, and snap up the industrious tenants on their 

 exit or arrival. The appearance of these birds in England 

 is accidental, and they are unknown in America. 



The type of the sub-family is— r 



The Throated Bee-eater {Melittophagus gularis). 



