BEE-EATER. 251 



have nested in South Germany, it is not impossible that some 

 of the spring wanderers, which have apparently overshot their 

 normal breeding area, might remain to nest with us if they 

 were unmolested. Bee-eaters nest in colonies in holes in 

 sand-pits, river banks, and indeed similar places to those 

 occupied by Sand-Martins. Like other hole-nesters, they lay 

 white eggs. The flight is easy and graceful ; the note described 

 as quilp. Though it feeds on various insects it has, as its 

 name suggests, an unlucky fondness for bees, and great 

 numbers are trapped and destroyed on account of its ravages. 

 When, in 1905, three visited Bentham, in Yorkshire, the late 

 G. W. Murdoch told how the birds perched at the mouth of a 

 hive, pecking at the bees as they entered or emerged. 



This bird is so distinct in its shape and the brilliance of its 

 plumage that it cannot be confused with any other species 

 except those of its own family, none other of which is included 

 as British. It is true that the Blue-tailed Bee-eater, 

 M. philippinus Linn., was recorded for Durham in 1862, 

 and as shown by Nelson a Bee-eater was certainly shot on the 

 Yorkshire side of the Tees, but it seems Hkely that there was 

 some accidental substitution of specimens. The majority of 

 ornithologists reject the possibility of this eastern Asiatic 

 species having reached Britain unaided. 



A glance at the plate is better than any description of this 

 many-coloured bird, but the points which catch the eye of the 

 observer are the long curved bill, orange-yellow throat, blue 

 wings and under parts contrasting with the rich chestnut back, 

 and the projecting central feathers of the green tail. These in 

 the young are at first no longer than the rest. Length, 11-25 

 ins. Wing, 6 ins. Tarsus, '\ in. 



