350 



MEROPID^. 



under surface yolden-green, the abdomen washed with blue; under tail-coverts blue; bill black; legs 

 and feet dark mealy-grey; iris red. Total length in the flesh, Q'O inches, wing Jf-5, outer tail feathers 

 3-2, central tail feathers 4'3, bill 1'23, tarsus 0'4. 



Adult female — Slightly duller in colour than the male, and the tico central tail feathers are 

 shorter. 



Distribution — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia. 



/T^HERE may be richer and more strikingly contrasted plumage in the different species of 



J- Rifle-birds and the Regent Bower-bird, but 1 know of no other bird in Australia which 



-shows to such advantage on the wing as the Bee-eater. When seen for the first time, its rainbow- 



hued tints, coupled with its graceful and 

 occasionally somewhat erratic flight, and 

 shrill whirring note, cannot but fail to 

 impress even the most casual observer. 



\\'ith the exception of Central Aus- 

 tralia, this species has been recorded 

 from nearlyevery portion of the continent; 

 it likewise occurs in New Guinea and 

 New Britain, Duke of York Island, the 

 Moluccas and Celebes. 



It is represented in the Australian 

 Aluseum Collection by numerous speci- 

 mens collected from different parts of 

 Australia, and among others by Mr. 

 Kendal Broadbent at Port Augusta, 

 South Australia, Mr. George Masters at 

 Flinders' Range, South Australia, and 

 Mongup, Western Australia, the late Mr. 

 Ale.xander Morton at Port Essington, 

 Mr. E. H. Saunders at Roeburne, and 

 by Mr. E. J. Cairn at Derby, North- 

 western Australia; also by the latter 

 when in company with Mr. Robt. Grant in the Bellenden Ker Range and at Bourke, New 

 South Wales. Although a strictly migratory species, individual variations occur, principally 

 in the wing measurement, and in the length of the attenuated and small spatulate-tipped 

 central tail feathers. In colour the most remarkable specimen in the collection is an adult 

 male procured by Mr. E. H. Saunders, at Roeburne, North-western Australia, on the 2qth 

 April, 1889, of which the general colour of the plumage above and below is of a warm 

 shade of golden-green. 



At Cape York it may be met with in March and April, on the Herbert River in June, flocks 

 continuing to pass south until the end of July. In New South Wales it usually arrives in October, 

 in some seasons at the latter end of September, and in Victoria a few weeks later. The return 

 journey from New South Wales is generally made in February, sometimes in March, arriving on 

 the Herbert River, in Queensland, in March during the wet season, and where they are locally 

 known as " Rain-birds." At Cape York, Mr. K. Broadbent remarks" : — " M crops ornatus arrived 

 here from the south on the 14th February. . . . Captain F. Dyer informs me that he has 

 met with Merops at sea, between Mulgrave Island and the coast of New Guinea, in such numbers 

 • Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland, Vol. I., p. 94 (1S84). 



BEE-EATER. 



